Biography

Peter S. Fiske
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA

Dr. Fiske received a B.A. in Geology and a Certificate of Accreditation in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. Peter was led to geology early in life: his father is a geoscientist with the Smithsonian Institution. The Fiske family spent many summers in the Sierra Nevada where the elder Fiske carried out field research. While a graduate student at Stanford, Peter studied the physical and chemical properties of molten lava. In the summer of 1990 he and former professors from Princeton University discovered the remains of the Beaverhead Impact Structure, the largest meteorite impact structure in the United States. After graduating from Stanford in 1994 Peter became a post-doctoral research fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he continued his research into meteorite impacts and carried out field work in Thailand and Montana. In 1996 Peter was selected to be a White House Fellow in Washington D.C. He subsequently served as an Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Peter returned to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the Fall of 1997 and resumed his life as a research scientist. In addition to his activities as a scientist, Peter is an active writer and lecturer on the subject of Careers, Career Development, and Career Alternatives for Scientists. He is the author of To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists (http://www.agu.org/careerguide) and the author of Tooling Up, a monthly column on the science employment website NextWave (http://www.nextwave.org). He is an active member of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the American Geological Institute.

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