Masako Tominaga has spent more than a year of her life on the ocean conducting research. More specifically, she has logged 450 days – and counting – on eleven different research expeditions since 2002.

Tominaga is a marine geophysicist currently finishing her postdoctoral research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – the largest private non-profit oceanographic institution in the world. She will be moving inland this summer to join the faculty of MSU’s Department of Geological Sciences as an assistant professor.

“Joining the faculty at Michigan State allows me to expand my expertise and skills to inland water, specifically the Great Lakes,” Tominaga says. “My research will complement the hydrogeological and environmental research in the Department of Geological Sciences. The collaborations with top researchers across the university on fresh water resource studies attracted my interests and I am excited about the opportunities for establishing geophysical contributions to both local and global societal issues.”

Tominaga says that being a professor at a public university will allow her to build her leadership skills in both science and education while engaging in public service.  She began her marine science career as a graduate student on an expedition in 2002 to the Jurassic Quiet Zone in the Pacific Ocean. The zone is a region of low amplitude, difficult-to-correlate magnetic anomalies located over the oldest ocean crust. Her research utilized underwater vehicles and seafloor drilling to investigate magmatic and volcanic processes and large scale tectonics.

Since her initial expedition, she has also been involved in five Integrated Ocean Drilling Program expeditions. Currently she is the chief scientist on the 2011 Jurassic Ocean Crust Magnetic Survey which is measuring the magnetism, bathymetry, gravity, and structure of the Jurassic seafloor to investigate the history and nature of the Earth’s magnetic field. Scientific outcome from this cruise will advance our knowledge on how the planet Earth’s magnetic field has been operated, how Cretaceous supervolcanism interfered with Jurassic basement, and the extension of Jurassic geological time scale.

Tominaga received a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Waseda University in Tokyo Japan. She then attended Texas A&M University where she received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Geological Oceanography. She is an expert in applied geophysics and engineering development, including seismics, potential field data analyses, high-resolution bathymetry and chirp sonar data analyses, numerical modeling, and physical properties of the Earth.

Tominaga’s research interests cover a wide area of geodynamic processes of the Earth, including magmatism, volcanism, and lithosphere evolution. Her research also covers CO₂ sequestration, plate tectonics, geomagnetic field of the Earth, and the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Geological Time Scale.

“Having Tominaga at MSU opens up new areas of research regarding the Great Lakes,” says David Hyndman, chair of the Department of Geological Sciences. “She will be able to contribute to underwater biology and chemistry studies as water research plays an expanded role at MSU. Her experience in the analysis of reservoirs and modern seismic methods makes her a good resource as both an educator and a researcher on oil, gas, and mineral exploration.”

Another project she will focus on is building MAPLES – a Multiscale mAgnetic and Physical Properties Lab for Earth Science. “MAPLES encompasses a full spectrum of geophysical collaborative research with scientists across MSU and around the globe,” says Tominaga. “We will be conducting cutting-edge research on Earth’s geodynamics and environmental problems while training both undergraduate and graduate students.”

Tominaga is a rising star among early career geologists. She has been Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI on National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants that are dedicated to field programs with utilizing University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) ships and National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) underwater vehicles as well as Scripps Institution of Oceanography seismic system. She has published 13 peer reviewed papers and received several awards, including an American Geophysical Union Editor’s Highlight for the paper “Origin of the smooth zone in early Cretaceous North Atlantic magnetic anomalies.” Tominaga will begin her teaching and research at MSU in August 2012.

Written by Mike Steger.  Photo by William C. Koeppen.