James Gill, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU fellows are a select group of distinguished scientists who have made exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of Earth and space science.
Gill is an expert on volcanoes and the study of how volcanic magmas evolve within the earth. His 1981 monograph on volcanism, Orogenic Andesites and Plate Tectonics, remains a frequently cited reference work in the geosciences. Gill earned his B.S. in geology from Wheaton College and Ph.D. in geochemistry from Australian National University. He joined the UCSC faculty in 1972.
Gill served as vice chancellor for research at UCSC from 1994 to 2000. He retired from teaching and administration in 2010, but continues to have an active research program. He received a Humboldt Research Award in 2011.
The newly elected AGU fellows will be honored at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco in December.