Native of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Geology, minor chemistry, from U of Calgary 1983. PhD from Johns Hopkins University 1987 based on a thesis that included 3 year field study of an extinct volcano on the Kenya-Tanzania border. Specialty is igneous petrology; retired from research scientist at Geological Survey of Canada since 2019, mostly in Nunavut. Finally acquired a solar scope this winter. Am deathly afraid of magnetohydrodynamics, statistical mechanics, and nonlinear differential equations so I have no business talking about the sun, but it's too fascinating to avoid.