Curriculum Vitae -- David Dalton

Objective

Education

• In residency in the Ph.D. program in Geophysics at Memorial University of Newfoundland from September 2002 to July 2004. I successfully defended a thesis proposal and I passed the candidacy examination. The proposal is titled "Seismic propagation in elastic media: A study of equations of motion by method of characteristics, principal symbols and Fourier-integral operators".
• In residency in the Ph.D program in Geophysics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) from 1988-1995. A research project, begun in 1990 on "Integral Equation Modelling of Acoustic Diffraction From Cylindrical Shapes," resulted in one conference presentation.
• M.Sc. in Geophysics at UBC, granted May, 1988, with a thesis on "Derivation and Practical Application of Exact Time-Domain Solutions for Diffraction of Acoustic waves by a Half Plane."
• B.Sc. (Hons.) in Earth Sciences (Geophysics) at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), granted May 1985, with a thesis on "Geomagnetic Core-Mantle Coupling and the Associated Decade Fluctuations in the Length of the Day."

Awards

• Between 1980 and 1992, Scholarships and Awards totalling approximately $127,000, including the NSERC 1967 Scholarship, the Newfoundland Offshore Development Fund Career Graduate Fellowship, the Petro-Canada Graduate Fellowship, and the 1985 MUN graduating class Earth Sciences Gold Medal.

Employment History

• part-time research assistant MUN Earth Sciences 2006--2011
• Teaching Assistant (part-time) MUN Earth Sciences 2002--2004
• Live Music Coordinator (part-time) UBC Grad Student Centre 1991-1995
• Teaching Assistant (part-time) UBC Geophysics 1988-1989
• Seismic Field Crew Surveyor MUN Earth Sciences summer 1985
• Seismic Reflection Modeller Chevron Canada, Calgary, AB summer 1984
• Aeromagnetic Researcher MUN Earth Sciences summer 1983
• Agriculture Resouce Camp Cook MUN Extension Services summer 1982
• Duckworth Lunch kitchen staff Duckworth Lunch summer 1981
• Restaurant 290 vegetable chef Restaurant 290 summer 1980

Computer-Related Experience

• have 30 years of experience on a variety of systems, most recently on a Macintosh, most extensively on Sun Workstations (Unix), but also Windows, DOS, Vax/VMS mainframe and MTS/Amdahl mainframe and a Redhat Linux box with KDE window manager.
• have programmed since 1982, in Fortran, TeX, Maple, Matlab, sh, DCL, some C.
• am adept in the installation and troubleshooting of software after acting as a volunteer resource person for other students and faculty in computer software, operating system and some hardware questions.
• have compiled, installed and maintained the scientific document processing and other packages TeX, LaTeX, MetaFont, dvips, xdvi, gnuplot, AucTeX, international ispell, gnus, zsh and other public domain programs for users on the UBC G&A Sun network.
• have experience with much software, including word processors such as TeX, LaTeX, Scribe, MS-Word on Windows and the Mac, Word Perfect in Windows 95, ArborText's Publisher, SunWrite (later named IslandWrite), MacWrite, WordPad; editors such as GNU emacs, NotePad, MTS edit, DEC EDT; graphic editors such as xfig, IslandDraw; mathematical packages Maple, Mathematica and more; I can easily learn most software.
• have some HTML (hypertext markup language) editing experience; also, HTML is similar to other markup languages (e.g. LaTeX) that I am adept with
• am proficient with Internet navigation, information retrieval and online promotion and publicity, including Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, web pages, web forums, telnet, ftp (file transfer protocol) sites and gopher.

Other Scientific Skills/Experience

• geophysical training includes aspects of physics, geology, applied mathematics, computer programming, electrical engineering, acoustics, digital signal processing, image processing, oceanography, technical writing and more. In addition to geophysics, I have a comprehensive educational background in mathematics, physics, geology, chemistry, english and french. This broad background would be useful in many fields.
• have done research in acoustic and electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering and in global geomagnetism and am interested in resource management and environmental geophysics, ocean acoustics, sea ice radar enhancement, marine mammal acoustics, and musical acoustics and related signal processing. Since my geophysical training is heavy in acoustical physics and digital signal processing I hope to be able to apply that knowledge to the improvement of live music sound and also studio recording technology, and thereby combine my theoretical knowledge and creativity with my love of music.
• have had one summer of training and work with Chevron Canada Resources in Calgary, doing seismic modelling with the GMA PC-based system, reflection seismic sections and well logs to determine the viability of stratigraphic traps in Saskatchewan.
• have had three summer jobs with geophysical field experience, including land gravity surveying, Vibroseis seismic surveying, and helicopter-assisted dynamite seismic surveying.

Other Skills

• am an adaptive, flexible problem solver in several areas and have the ability to generate creative ideas in many other areas; also, am a fast learner in new areas of learning, including new software packages.
• have good technical writing and editing skills (scientific publications available upon request) and also have had some practice in creative/descriptive/promotional writing. My creative writing skills include an ability to make intuitive and imaginative leaps and connections, attention to rhythm and imagery, and a developing ability to produce real time first draft lyrics to instrumental music after hearing a few repetitions, or to improve, build upon or shed new light upon existing lyrics.
• while at university, I have given about 20 seminars, including two conference presentations, a corporate report, several student lunch seminars and one departmental seminar.
• was for four years a volunteer (with occasional honorarium) part-time music coordinator for the UBC graduate student centre, which involved booking bands, hosting concerts and jam sessions, designing and distributing posters and doing live sound engineering.

Publications

• Dalton, D.R. and Yedlin, M.J. (1990) "ARMA Implementation of Diffraction Operators with Inverse-root Singularities", IEEE Trans. AP 38, 831-837.
• Dalton, D.R. and Yedlin, M.J. (1989) "Exact Time-Domain Solutions for Acoustic Diffraction by a Half Plane", Surveys in Geophysics 10, 305-330. This was also published in the book: Aspects of Seismic Reflection Data Processing, ed. R. Marschall (Prakla-Seismos).
• Yedlin, M.J. and Dalton, D.R. (1989) "Diffraction Coefficient Formulation of an Exact Solution for Acoustic Diffraction by a Half Plane", In: Malik, S.K. and Graham, G.A.C. (eds.), Continuum Mechanics and its Applications, 99-107, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, N.Y.

Conference Presentations

• "Integral Equation Techniques Applied to Grid Construction in Acoustic Diffraction Modelling", presented at the 1991 CGU (Canadian Geophysical Union) Annual Meeting in Banff.
• Dalton, D.R. and Yedlin, M.J. "Exact Time-Domain Solutions for Acoustic Diffraction by a Half Plane", presented at the 58th Annual (1988) SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) Meeting in Anaheim.

Some Volunteer Work/Activities/Interests/Hobbies

• for four years I was live music coordinator/host/sound tech for the UBC Graduate Student centre. This was largely volunteer but there was sometimes an honorarium for doing sound, so I have listed this above under employment as well.
• during 1995 I acted as facilitator for a peer support group at UBC and have helped some both there and on related Internet groups learn how to maximize creativity and minimize mood swing problems.
• my other activities include badminton, yoga, running, softball, cooking (I have been employed as a cook, years ago), creative writing, research into the relationship between mood and mythology and into comparative mythology and into musical acoustics.

To see some music reviews by me, a Newfoundland and Labrador travel and music page and more, go up to my home page.