Chapter Information

Pacific Northwest Chapter Officers

Office	Name
President	Melanie Klym
Vice President	Vacant
Secretary	Pat Reed
Treasurer	Linda Khandro
Scholarship Committee Chair	Shari Silverman
Communications	Emily Cahoon
Past President	Marcia Knadle
Web Editors	Cindy Bartlett and Jordan Claytor
Pacific Region Delegate	Marcia Knadle

Officer Bios

President
Melanie Klym is a water resources engineer and geologist who has been based in western Oregon since 2008. Originally from Massachusetts where she grew up playing outside in nature, she holds a BS from Tufts University and MS from Portland State University where her research focused on groundwater-surface water interactions in former quarry ponds. Currently she works for River Design Group in Corvallis where she applies her knowledge of fluvial geomorphology and designs river restoration projects. Melanie is an experienced project manager and enjoys working at the intersection of engineering and geomorphology. She’s been a member of AWG-PNW for 3 years and regularly volunteers with the Geologic Society of the Oregon Country, the Johnson Creek Watershed Council, and River Restoration Northwest. She served on the Johnson Creek Board of Directors 2012 – 2022 in various capacities including treasurer, vice chair, and chair.

Vice President
Vacant

Secretary
Pat Reed has been an environmental and engineering Geologist for 20 years. She has worked for large firms such as URS, Hart Crowser, and Black and Veatch. She has worked for Wood (formerly AMEC, formerly AMEC-Foster-Wheeler) for ten years as a Senior Geologist. Currently she is working on the project that will widen I-405 from Renton to Bellevue for WSDOT. She still finds time to get out on drilling rigs, but is mostly reviewing field logs and draft logs. Her interests include Puget Sound Geology, rock hunting (of course) and playing at gold panning. Pat and her husband own Nordic Trader, a small business that creates bronze-cast jewelry copied from Viking artifacts. She and her husband usually travel all over the northwest setting up a booth and selling at Nordic Fairs, the New National Nordic Museum, Poulsbo Viking Festival, and medieval events at the Society for Creative Anachronism. Pat has previously served on the AWG-PNW Board in three other capacities – as President, Vice President and, for a total of nearly ten years(!), as Scholarship Committee Chair.

Treasurer
Linda Khandro is something of a mixed salad! She’s a geologist with a Bachelor’s in Geology, and a Master’s in Teaching Earth Science, along with a Washington State Teaching Certificate, and has been teaching college earth and space sciences (geology, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology, environmental science, and astrobiology) in face to face, hybrid, and online classes since 1991. She also teaches earth and space sciences for senior citizens in the Puget Sound region. She became interested in Project ASTRO as an astronomer volunteer, and that interest in Astrobiology brought her to the University of Washington (Seattle) as an Education/Public Outreach specialist from 2000-2006. In 2010 she became a Faculty Designer for Washington State’s Open Course Library (OCL) Project, revising Oceanography 101 and Astronomy 101 for Phases 1 and 2 respectively. Both of these OCL projects are with Shoreline Community College in Seattle, but are also part of every course she teaches in the earth and space sciences, at every college where she teaches. Of several mandates in the OCL, the one with the greatest impact on students is the ongoing effort to provide educational support materials (aka textbooks and related content) at more affordable prices than in the past! Linda has also been a consultant on several educational projects in the US and in Canada, as well as an independent contractor working on various hydrology projects. Her professional service includes having been a part-time faculty union representative in both the US and Canada, newsletter editor for the (erstwhile) AWG Puget Sound Chapter and AWG Editor (Gaea), serving on the AWG Executive Committee. Most relevant to this position, she also served as treasurer for the Northwest Geological Society. The “mixed salad” part? She’s been involved in a variety of creative endeavors over the years: visual arts and photography, poetry, dance, and music.

Scholarship Committee Chair
Shari Silverman is a geoarchaeologist. She examines the landscape to discern archaeological potential and studies how geology and environment affects humans and other life, and vice versa. She aims to do so in areas with stunning vistas. She also does straight-up archaeology. She currently works for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, but has worked for private, state and federal organizations all over the American West, plus Wisconsin. She holds an M.A. in anthropology and an M.S. in geological engineering, both from the University of Idaho. Her Master’s theses examined canoe distribution in relation to environment and culture in the Plateau Culture Area (inland northwest [M.A.]) and rockfall hazards in Idaho (M.S.). She attended University of Oregon also, where she earned a B.S. in anthropology with a minor in mathematics.

Communications Committee Chair (Newsletter Editor)
Emily Cahoon holds a PhD in Earth, Environment and Society from Portland State University, a MS in Geology from Washington State University, and a BS in Geology from the University of Delaware. Emily has has industry work experience in the fields of environmental consulting and mineral exploration. She’s currently a term assistant professor (teaching remotely) at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, teaching volcanology and petrology courses. Her research explores the timing, emplacement, and petrogenetic evolution of flood basalt lavas by integrating field methods, laboratory instruments, geochemical and thermodynamic modeling. Emily is particularly interested in the duration of basaltic volcanism and significance of giant plagioclase crystals, which have been documented in numerous continental flood basalt provinces. This interest has led to research on ‘sunstones’, which are large plagioclase crystals that contain macroscopic inclusions of native copper. Sunstones vary in color due to the speciation of copper, and are recognized as a gemstone by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). This research aims to characterize the geologic conditions required to form sunstones, and further our understanding of crystal growth and metal enrichment processes during flood basalt magmatism.

Past President
Marcia Knadle is a long-time member of AWG and the Pacific NW Chapter and has served in every chapter office or capacity except treasurer and web manager. She has organized or co-organized many field trips for both AWG and for the PNW Chapter, most recently to New Zealand, the Western Great Lakes, the Klamath Mountains, Central California, and England. She also serves on the AWG Board of Directors as a delegate for the Pacific Region, where she has focused on making AWG’s interactions with chapters as clear and simple as possible. Marcia holds a Geology BS from the University of Puget Sound and a Geology MS from the University of Montana in Missoula. She has looked for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, done soils engineering on the Alaska Pipeline, and been a hydrologic technician for the USGS in Tacoma. However, most of her career was spent as a hydrogeologist for the US Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle, providing technical support on hazardous waste cleanup projects. She retired 6 years ago, which is why she has time to organize geology field trips and serve on the AWG and AWG-PNW Boards. Otherwise, she spends her time helping manage her childhood home on 40 acres in Maple Valley, WA.

Web Editor

Pacific Region Delegate
Marcia Knadle (see Past President above)