Alaska geologist wins award for volcano data work

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - An Alaska geologist has won an award from the U.S. Geological Survey for her work managing data on Alaska volcanoes.

Cheryl Cameron received the Citizen’s Award for Exceptional Service. She has been with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys for about 20 years.

Cameron designed and maintained the geologic database of information on volcanoes in Alaska. She also archived and shared volcanic information through social media and scientific channels.

Those two things are what helped her earn the award.

“I sometimes feel like a really lucky dragon sitting on this hoard of volcano data specific to Alaska. And I’ve been spending a long time trying to make that usable and accessible to the general public to AVO researchers and to outside researchers,” Cameron said.

When one of Alaska’s many volcanoes erupts, Cameron’s supervisor Janet Schaefer said Cameron makes sure the information gets from the scientists to the public accurately.

She said Cameron has compiled anything someone would want to know about Alaska volcanoes into the database. It serves as the back end to the Alaska Volcano Observatory homepage.

“[It] really is a site for the research geologists and others that go to her data, to understand volcanic activity, understand volcanic history, and to help us monitor the volcanoes in an efficient way by having all that information right at our fingertips, especially during times of unrest,” she said.

Schaefer said Cameron is one of the most knowledgeable people on Alaska volcanism. She helps others have access to that information.

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