Anita Lizzie Grunder is an American geologist known for her research on volcanic rocks and the evolution of the magmas. She is an elected fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the Mineralogical Society of America. Anita’s scientific career has illuminated the inner workings of magmatic systems and volcanic processes across a range of geologic settings. From arc volcanism in the Andes and the Cascade Range to the rhyolite fields of the High Lava Plains, Oregon, to the vast Columbia River Basalt Group, Anita brings an integrative, multiscale, vision to the study of how the Earth’s crust evolves through magmatism and manifests as volcanism.
Philosophy: "It remains one of humanity’s greatest achievements that we have institutions dedicated to the development of the mind and the creation of knowledge." Anita Grunder, 2025 https://www.geosociety.org/honors-awards/mgpv-distinguished-career/2025
Early Life Born August 14, 1954 in Basel, Switzerland to Hermann A. Grunder and Lucienne Simone (Robert) Grunder. In 1959, the family moved to California. Grunder is fluent in English, German, and is competent French and Spanish. Possesses U.S. and Swiss citizenship. Education A.B. in paleontology from the University of California, Berkeley, 1977. PhD Geology, Stanford University, 1986. Her dissertationhttps://www.osti.gov/biblio/6801847, “Calabozos caldera complex: geology, petrology, and geochemistry of a major silicic center and hydrothermal system in the southern Andes” was conducted with advisor Gail Mahood. Between her undergraduate and graduate programs, Grunder worked as a field assistant with Gail Mahood (University of California, Berkeley, UCB) in the Sierra la Primavera caldera in Mexico and with Wes Hildreth and David A. Johnston (United States Geological Survey) in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Alaska. These immersive experiences in rugged terrains sealed her commitment to geology, establishing a career pattern rooted in fieldwork complemented by petrology and geochemistry. She also worked several years as a lab technician in the Argon Geochronology Laboratoryhttps://osu-argon.org/ at UCB, and in the Stable Isotope Laboratoryhttps://faculty.epss.ucla.edu/~eyoung/Young_stable.html (C,H,N) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She began her graduate career at Scripps Institution of Oceanography before transferring to Stanford University. Career Oregon State University 1986-1992: Assistant professor of geology in the Oregon State University (OSU) Department of Geology. 1992-1998: Associate professor of geology in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Scienceshttps://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/about, CEOAS, OSU 1998-2017: Professor of geology, CEOAS, OSU 2012-2017: Associate dean of academic programs, CEOAS, OSU 2017-present: Professor emerita at CEOAShttps://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/directory/anita-grunder
Visiting Scholar 2009: Federal Polytechnic Institute (ETH Zurich Switzerland) 2001-2002: Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France 1995: Geological Survey of Chilehttps://www.sernageomin.cl/ (SERNAGEOMIN), Santiago, Chile 1994-1995: Dept. of Geological Scienceshttps://ess.uw.edu/, University of Washington, Seattle WA
Editorial Positions and Offices 1988-1999: Member editorial board for the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Researchhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-volcanology-and-geothermal-research (JVGR) 1994-1997: Editor for Geologyhttps://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geology magazine. 2002-2006: Executive committee of International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) 2004-2007: Associate editor of Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth 2005: Coeditor special volume of JVGR titled, "Welding processes in volcanology: insights from field, experimental, and modeling studies."https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037702730400397X 2006-2010: Vice-President of IAVCEI. 2009-2011: Secretary of Volcanology, Petrology and Geochemistryhttps://connect.agu.org/vgp/home (VGP) division of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2017-2020: Leadership of the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanologyhttps://community.geosociety.org/mgpvdivision/home (MGPV) Division. 2017: Coeditor of field trip volume IAVCEI 2019: Coeditor of special GSA volume honoring Donald A. Swanson 2021: Coeditor of field trip volume for GSA
Research Grunder is a field geologist who has worked on volcanoes and volcanic rocks in a variety of locations including Nevada, Oregon, and the Aucanquilcha region in Chile. Her early research was on the volcanic rocks and hydrothermal system at Calabozos crater in the Chilean Andes. She uses oxygen-18 isotopes in different types of rocks to reveal changes in magmatic activity over millions of years. In 2005, Grunder co-edited a collection of articles on welding processes in volcanic systems, and contributed an article on welded pyroclastic deposits from Oregon. In Hawaii, she worked on the sulfur dioxide released by the Kilauea volcano and collaborated with a graduate student working in public health, Bernadette Longo, to reveal increased health issues for people living downwind of the volcano. In 2020 she examined the geology of the volcanic material in the area surrounding Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon. One of her students described her skills at explaining volcanic processes and noted that she is adept at making geology interesting to a range of people, both inside and outside academia.
Selected publications
Awards and honors 1989 received the Loyd Carter Award for Outstanding and Inspirational Teaching in Science from Oregon State University's College of Sciencehttps://science.oregonstate.edu/our-college. 1997 elected Fellow of the Geological Society of Americahttps://www.geosociety.org/honors-awards/fellowship 2001 awarded the Frederick H. Horne Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching Sciencehttps://internal.science.oregonstate.edu/faculty/awards/fred-horne-award by the same college, recognizing ongoing contributions to science education 2009 named Outstanding Educatorhttps://www.awg.org/general/custom.asp?page=ScholarshipsandAwards by the Association for Women Geoscientists. 2016 awarded the Patullo award for excellence in mentorship, CEOAS 2021 elected Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America for her impactful work in mineralogy, petrology, and related fields 2025 awarded the GSA MGPV Division's Distinguished Geological Career Awardhttps://archive.geosociety.org/GSA/GSA/Awards/2025/mgpv.aspx
Personal life She is married to John Dilleshttps://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/directory/john-dilles, an economic geology professor emeritus at OSU. In 1986 they left Stanford University for Philomath, OR to teach in the Geology Department at OSU Anita and John have three adult children.
Grunder volunteers in Oregon with the Independent Community Center, and one of their activities is the restoration of an old schoolhouse in Philomath, Oregon that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. In 2008, she led the effort to found the Muddy Creek Charter School in Oregon. Her outside sculpture piece "Excess Baggage" developed collectively by Warren Lisser, Susie Lisser and Grunder was presented at Burning Man in 2013.
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