User:Mpendleton

Matt Pendleton is a geologist based out of Los Angeles, California who is interested in the practical applications of science to industry. He graduated with a Masters of Science in Geological Sciences from the University of Idaho in 2015 and is currently working as a staff geologist at Earth Consultants International. Matt is from St. Paul, Minnesota, and completed his Bachelors of Science in Geology at the University of Minnesota in 2011. One of the most pronounced aspects of his employment history is the broad range of experience he has gained during his education. As a highly motivated student, Matt interned at the University of Minnesota, Colorado Mesa University, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard and Marshall Space Flight Centers, and the Newmont Mining Corporation. He has received a number of fellowships, scholarships, and student assistantships that facilitated his success in science.

After graduating with his Masters in 2015, Matt moved to Los Angeles to chase his dream to become an engineering geologist. He chose to move to Los Angeles because of his interest in earthquakes and geologic hazards. As a graduate student, Matt studied features on Mars that resulted from volcanism, groundwater flow, and tectonics. Tectonics is the process that causes plate tectonics and results from built up stress in a planet's crust from magmatic intrusions. His research brought him to 7 research conferences, where Matt presented his findings about a small region on Mars called the Cerberus Fossae. The Cerberus Fossae are a series of linear fractures that extend more than 1200 km across the Martian surface and were the source of water and lava. Earthquakes likely assisted the formation of the Cerberus Fossae, and it was this research as a graduate student that sparked his interest in paleoseismology.