Maya Tolstoy

Tolstoy was interested in both science and theater while growing up,[1] but a fascination with earthquakes led her to a career in geoscience.[2] Tolstoy received her B.S. in geophysics from the University of Edinburgh in 1988 and earned a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1994.[3] Following her Ph.D., she was first a postdoctoral research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and then at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. In 1996 she joined the faculty at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and was promoted to professor in 2016.[3] In January 2022 she started her position as the Maggie Walker Dean of the College of the Environment at the University of Washington.[4][5]

Tolstoy is known for her research using sound in the ocean to deep-sea earthquakes. Her early research investigated a 2006 undersea eruption on the East Pacific Rise.[6] While many of her instruments were trapped in lava, enough could be recovered to track the sequence of events that led to the eruption.[7] Her subsequent research has examined earthquakes at Axial Seamount,[8] the connections between tides and deep-sea earthquakes,[9] and the along-axis flow of fluids at the East Pacific Rise.[10] Tolstoy's research has linked changes in sea level with patterns of earthquake activity in the deep sea,[11] research which has implications for the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.[12]

In addition to her research, Tolstoy led an initiative defining issues encountered by women in science that culminated in a 2018 report that presented issues at Columbia University,[13] and she has worked to overcome issues in unequal treatment of women and minorities in hiring for academic positions.[14] Tolstoy was also in the 2005 James Cameron film about the deep ocean Aliens of the Deep,[15][16] and was a finalist in the 2009 astronaut interview process at NASA.[1]

• Crone, Timothy J.; Tolstoy, Maya (29 October 2010). "Magnitude of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak". Science. 330 (6004): 634. Bibcode:2010Sci...330..634C. doi:10.1126/science.1195840. PMID 20929734. S2CID 5722715.
• Tolstoy, Maya; Harding, Alistair J.; Orcutt, John A. (29 October 1993). "Crustal Thickness on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Bull's-Eye Gravity Anomalies and Focused Accretion". Science. 262 (5134): 726–729. Bibcode:1993Sci...262..726T. doi:10.1126/science.262.5134.726. PMID 17812339. S2CID 36743776.
• Tolstoy, M.; Cowen, J. P.; Baker, E. T.; Fornari, D. J.; Rubin, K. H.; Shank, T. M.; Waldhauser, F.; Bohnenstiehl, D. R.; Forsyth, D. W.; Holmes, R. C.; Love, B.; Perfit, M. R.; Weekly, R. T.; Soule, S. A.; Glazer, B. (22 December 2006). "A Sea-Floor Spreading Event Captured by Seismometers". Science. 314 (5807): 1920–1922. Bibcode:2006Sci...314.1920T. doi:10.1126/science.1133950. PMID 17124289. S2CID 10275659.
• Tolstoy, Maya; Vernon, Frank L.; Orcutt, John A.; Wyatt, Frank K. (1 June 2002). "Breathing of the seafloor: Tidal correlations of seismicity at Axial volcano". Geology. 30 (6): 503–506. Bibcode:2002Geo....30..503T. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0503:BOTSTC>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613.
• Tolstoy, M. (5 February 2015). "Mid-ocean ridge eruptions as a climate valve". Geophysical Research Letters. 42 (5): 1346–1351. Bibcode:2015GeoRL..42.1346T. doi:10.1002/2014GL063015. S2CID 55300326.

In 2009, Tolstoy received a Women of Discovery Award for her work on deep-sea exploration.[17] She was a 2012 invited speaker at the Nobel Conference,[18] and delivered the 2016 Francis Birch Lecture at the American Geophysical Union meeting.[19]

• Maya Tolstoy publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Seafloor earthquakes | Maya Tolstoy on YouTube, May 13, 2013 TEDxCERN