Jonathan D. Phillips
The Tao of Earth Surface Systems
Education
Trial-and-Error, Hard Knocks, Making it up as I Go, 1957-present.
High school equivalency certificate, 1975.
B.A., 1979, Virginia Tech. Major: Communications.
Minor: Environmental science.
M.A., 1982, East Carolina. Major: Physical Geography.
Ph.D.,
1985, Rutgers. Major: Geomorphology.
Research interests
My general interests are in fluvial, coastal,
and soil geomorphology, and in hydrology. My research has several general foci.
One is an effort to develop a theory regarding the structure, function, and
behavior of earth surface systems, involving the interactions of landforms,
soils, climate, and the biosphere. This work is conducted from a nonlinear
dynamical systems perspective, but with an emphasis on developing field-testable
hypotheses and on real-world manifestations of complex system behavior rather
than on simulation modeling. I have recently become interested in incorporating
this work in a more general framework examining the role of historical
contingency or path-dependence in the evolution of landscapes and earth surface
systems.
My fluvial and coastal work of late is focussed
on coastal plain riversÑparticularly sediment delivery to estuaries and to the
sea, and the response of lower coastal plain rivers to sea level change and
other forcings. Here in Kentucky, IÕve been working on bedrock streams in the
fluviokarst landscapes of central Kentucky, and on evolution of
fluvially-dissected landscapes in eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia.
My pedology/soil geomorphology work is geared
toward a general understanding of the coevolution of soils, landforms, and
ecosystems; and toward theories of regolith evolution. I am also particularly
interested in the causes and interpretation of spatial variation in soils and
weathering profiles, and in pedodiversity.
Current and recent field sites are in central
Kentucky, eastern Kentucky, the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, east Texas,
southwestern Virginia, and the North Island of New Zealand. In the past I have
worked in the North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey coastal plains;
the Sonoran Desert of Arizona; and the upper Mississippi River valley.
Publications:
http://ukslsrp.150m.com/JDPpubs.htm
Personal
I am
married to Lynn Roche Phillips, who holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in geography
from East Carolina University--we met as graduate students there in 1982, when
I was young and in love. I'm still in love, but not so young. She is an
environmental geographer and planner. She believes that I am an outstanding
scientist and scholar, a good daddy, a decent husband, and not much good for
anything else. I appreciate the first three opinions and cannot offer evidence
to refute the fourth.
My son Nate Phillips was born 18 June 1988, and has been my
field assistant since he was 18 months old. He has participated in soil and
sediment sampling, field reconnaissance and surveying, and the digging of soil
pits and stratigraphic exposures. He thinks I'm an idiot but loves me anyway.
My
daugher Bay Rochelle Phillips was born 18 February 1996, 3.5 months premature,
weighing 753 grams, and given little chance of survival. After a rocky 99 days
in the hospital she came home, and has been doing great ever since. She is
embarking on her own career as a field assistant, and also, of course,
participates in many non-scientific things that girls are wont to be involved
in.
I love good beer, particularly dark ales, porters, and
stouts. I cannot distinguish fine wine from cheap swill. I also love good
cigars, but Nate made me quit. I believe The Three Stooges are the greatest
artistic geniuses the world has yet produced, and that the Nature Boy Ric Flair
is the all-time greatest professional wrestler. I cheer for the East Carolina
Pirates and the Virginia Tech Hokies. I spent 1997-2000 on the faculty at Texas
A&M University, and as a result I have a bit of Aggie in me as well.
The best advice I can give you is based on lessons taught
to me by my family. First, spend all the time you can with the people you love.
No one ever laid on their deathbed thinking "I wish I'd spent more time at
the office." Second, sometimes you have to believe it to see it. As
exhibit A, I offer my daughter, whose success against the odds is as much a
product of faith as of medicine.