Penny Wieser
@pennywieser.bsky.social
Assistant Prof studying Volcanoes. ♥️Microanalysis, Python 🐍, Open Science. Laser Radial sailor ⛵, Bike advocate 🚲. Chronically Ill (GI). She/her
I naively thought the police would want to hear my side of a car left hooking me. Victim shaming 100%. Moment I said I was on an e bike the officer said 'thats a car, you have to follow the rules of the road'. Sir, I was left hooked in a bike lane, travelling along. 'we have lots of ebike crashes'..
October 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
I naively thought the police would want to hear my side of a car left hooking me. Victim shaming 100%. Moment I said I was on an e bike the officer said 'thats a car, you have to follow the rules of the road'. Sir, I was left hooked in a bike lane, travelling along. 'we have lots of ebike crashes'..
Two bike accidents in 2 years, both cycling home from office hours. Can't decide if we should ban cars or ban office hours. Driver left hooked me across a two way cycle lane without even looking in his mirrors. Also second crash where helmet saved my head. #WearAHelmet #Lookinyourgoddamnmirrors
October 7, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Two bike accidents in 2 years, both cycling home from office hours. Can't decide if we should ban cars or ban office hours. Driver left hooked me across a two way cycle lane without even looking in his mirrors. Also second crash where helmet saved my head. #WearAHelmet #Lookinyourgoddamnmirrors
Second open access Mauna Loa paper available! Here we investigate storage depths and degassing systematics using fluid inclusions, and olivine deformation using EBSD in lavas and tephras from 7 eruptions (1852-2022). TLDR: SO2 degasses earlier than expected doi.org/10.1007/s004...
September 30, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Second open access Mauna Loa paper available! Here we investigate storage depths and degassing systematics using fluid inclusions, and olivine deformation using EBSD in lavas and tephras from 7 eruptions (1852-2022). TLDR: SO2 degasses earlier than expected doi.org/10.1007/s004...
Last week my husband came back with a 'squash' for dinner which turned out to be the hardest, toughest object known to man. Having come back from the store today, I see he fell into the 'these gourds out front must be edible' trap for foreigners, not realizing Americans buy them as decorations.
September 27, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Last week my husband came back with a 'squash' for dinner which turned out to be the hardest, toughest object known to man. Having come back from the store today, I see he fell into the 'these gourds out front must be edible' trap for foreigners, not realizing Americans buy them as decorations.
Way too hot in Berkeley this evening (33C), so headed down to spend a few hours in the amazing microclimate at the marina (21C). Bay area temperature gradients over 3 miles are something else. Caught an awesome sunset too.
September 24, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Way too hot in Berkeley this evening (33C), so headed down to spend a few hours in the amazing microclimate at the marina (21C). Bay area temperature gradients over 3 miles are something else. Caught an awesome sunset too.
Excited to share my new open-access paper looking at magma storage depths for these beautiful xenoliths from Mauna Loa Volcano. doi.org/10.1007/s004... 🧵below, TLDR - previous suggestions of ~20 km deep Opx crystallization are inconstant with fluid inclusion depths and thermodynamic modelling.
September 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Excited to share my new open-access paper looking at magma storage depths for these beautiful xenoliths from Mauna Loa Volcano. doi.org/10.1007/s004... 🧵below, TLDR - previous suggestions of ~20 km deep Opx crystallization are inconstant with fluid inclusion depths and thermodynamic modelling.
Rudely awaken by the Hayward fault. Very cool how soon after shaking we got the shake alert. If we'd been more than 1.6 km away from the epicenter would have come first! Seems we always get a feelable quake within a week of me finishing my EQ module. Great for engagement! Biggest I've felt so far.
M 4.6 - 2 km ESE of Berkeley, CA Link: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75240492
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75240492
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75240492
earthquake.usgs.gov
September 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Rudely awaken by the Hayward fault. Very cool how soon after shaking we got the shake alert. If we'd been more than 1.6 km away from the epicenter would have come first! Seems we always get a feelable quake within a week of me finishing my EQ module. Great for engagement! Biggest I've felt so far.
Reposted by Penny Wieser
Quick video about the M7.8 earthquake off the coast of Russia, including an animation from @earthscope.org showing the seismic waves detected by seismic stations across North America. 🧪
September 19, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Quick video about the M7.8 earthquake off the coast of Russia, including an animation from @earthscope.org showing the seismic waves detected by seismic stations across North America. 🧪
My doctor said today she liked my hiking backpack (my 30L osprey), and was I going for a hike after my appointment? Had to explain it's just my backpack I take to work. Geologist/cyclist problems!
September 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
My doctor said today she liked my hiking backpack (my 30L osprey), and was I going for a hike after my appointment? Had to explain it's just my backpack I take to work. Geologist/cyclist problems!
First cold day of the semester, and the realization that spending a summer learning to wing foil means I have developed an anomalously muscley elbow joint/lower forearm and I now can't bend my arms in all my teaching blazers... 💪
September 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
First cold day of the semester, and the realization that spending a summer learning to wing foil means I have developed an anomalously muscley elbow joint/lower forearm and I now can't bend my arms in all my teaching blazers... 💪
Undergraduate Isabelle Susman spreading the word about magma storage in American Samoa at today's MPS undergrad research fair. Isabelle is looking for PhDs and will be at GSA where you can all learn more! #ProudAdvisor
August 30, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Undergraduate Isabelle Susman spreading the word about magma storage in American Samoa at today's MPS undergrad research fair. Isabelle is looking for PhDs and will be at GSA where you can all learn more! #ProudAdvisor
I am always nervous for the first day of class (feels a lot of pressure to set the tone, get them hyped about the course), and i forget how much fun it is to meet 100 keen students who are just starting their uni journey and want to learn about the environment!
August 28, 2025 at 7:51 PM
I am always nervous for the first day of class (feels a lot of pressure to set the tone, get them hyped about the course), and i forget how much fun it is to meet 100 keen students who are just starting their uni journey and want to learn about the environment!
Planning my seminar visits for the year and so many hotels seem to be stopping providing microwaves and fridges..this is an absolute nightmare as someone who has to sort my own food. For my NYC trip my host lent me her microwave and I had to wait 2 hrs for the hotel to bring up a fridge..fml.
August 28, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Planning my seminar visits for the year and so many hotels seem to be stopping providing microwaves and fridges..this is an absolute nightmare as someone who has to sort my own food. For my NYC trip my host lent me her microwave and I had to wait 2 hrs for the hotel to bring up a fridge..fml.
Now my paper is submitted I have finally had to stop denying I need to teach 150 students in 2 weeks, and have managed to exceed the activation energy to start my course canvas page.
August 15, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Now my paper is submitted I have finally had to stop denying I need to teach 150 students in 2 weeks, and have managed to exceed the activation energy to start my course canvas page.
Interested in applying Raman spectroscopy to analyse CO2 geofluids (in melt or fluid inclusions)? Check out our new preprint looking at analytical best practices - how do you get the best accuracy and precision out of your Raman system, and common traps to fall into.
eartharxiv.org/repository/v...
eartharxiv.org/repository/v...
Best practices for the analyses of CO2 fluids by Raman Spectroscopy
eartharxiv.org
August 15, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Interested in applying Raman spectroscopy to analyse CO2 geofluids (in melt or fluid inclusions)? Check out our new preprint looking at analytical best practices - how do you get the best accuracy and precision out of your Raman system, and common traps to fall into.
eartharxiv.org/repository/v...
eartharxiv.org/repository/v...
Flying around the bay today (with more crashes than you would want on a commerical flying object)! hydrofoils are truly the most amazing things. Physics is so cool that a 2000 cm2 piece of carbon fiber can lift a soaking wet me and a board into the air.
August 10, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Flying around the bay today (with more crashes than you would want on a commerical flying object)! hydrofoils are truly the most amazing things. Physics is so cool that a 2000 cm2 piece of carbon fiber can lift a soaking wet me and a board into the air.
VIBE lab group paddleboard/kayak outing to say goodbye to the wonderful @cljdevitre.bsky.social, the very first member of my lab group, who is starting as an Assistant Professor at UOttowa in Sept after nearly 3 years of fab fluid inclusion postdoc work🎉.
August 3, 2025 at 1:40 AM
VIBE lab group paddleboard/kayak outing to say goodbye to the wonderful @cljdevitre.bsky.social, the very first member of my lab group, who is starting as an Assistant Professor at UOttowa in Sept after nearly 3 years of fab fluid inclusion postdoc work🎉.
Spending the day tidying up all my code for a paper so the jupyter notebook for each figure and all its data it calls is in a tidy supplement. Great for FAIR principles, but also great for my sanity when doing revisions, and future Penny who is pretty sure she has already written code for that.
July 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Spending the day tidying up all my code for a paper so the jupyter notebook for each figure and all its data it calls is in a tidy supplement. Great for FAIR principles, but also great for my sanity when doing revisions, and future Penny who is pretty sure she has already written code for that.
Celebrating resubmitting a paper this morning! The bay area really is the most amazing natural playground - all you need is 3mm of neoprene and the world is your oyster. Finally making some progress with some sustained foil flights, and some accompanying large crashes!
July 17, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Celebrating resubmitting a paper this morning! The bay area really is the most amazing natural playground - all you need is 3mm of neoprene and the world is your oyster. Finally making some progress with some sustained foil flights, and some accompanying large crashes!
After a frustrating day of realizing our repaired stage wasn't as repaired as we would have liked, most of my wonderful research group took a stroll up the Berkeley fire trails..always so beautiful up there!
July 9, 2025 at 2:56 PM
After a frustrating day of realizing our repaired stage wasn't as repaired as we would have liked, most of my wonderful research group took a stroll up the Berkeley fire trails..always so beautiful up there!
Folks at my club ask where I find a seemingly unlimited supply of people who have never sailed before to come racing. The wonderful VIBE Lab undergrads are always keen, and deserve it after a summer (or 3) of hard work in the lab looking at fluid inclusions!
July 6, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Folks at my club ask where I find a seemingly unlimited supply of people who have never sailed before to come racing. The wonderful VIBE Lab undergrads are always keen, and deserve it after a summer (or 3) of hard work in the lab looking at fluid inclusions!
Celebrating my first graduate student passing his qualifying exam! Go @alexbearden.bsky.social. I also didn't know the answer to the hardest question! #ProudSupervisorMoment
June 27, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Celebrating my first graduate student passing his qualifying exam! Go @alexbearden.bsky.social. I also didn't know the answer to the hardest question! #ProudSupervisorMoment
If anyone tells you petrology doesn't give you transferable skills, don't listen! I spend my days grinding tiny crystals and setting them in epoxy, and my evenings sanding dings in my foil board and filling them with epoxy! Only difference is the grit of sandpaper (120 vs 10,000) and epoxy volume.
June 25, 2025 at 2:16 AM
If anyone tells you petrology doesn't give you transferable skills, don't listen! I spend my days grinding tiny crystals and setting them in epoxy, and my evenings sanding dings in my foil board and filling them with epoxy! Only difference is the grit of sandpaper (120 vs 10,000) and epoxy volume.
Lifeguard dog watching over me wingfoiling. Lots of high speed crashes today as I got up on the foil. It's a steep learning curve and tough to be bad at a watersport again!
June 20, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Lifeguard dog watching over me wingfoiling. Lots of high speed crashes today as I got up on the foil. It's a steep learning curve and tough to be bad at a watersport again!
This is why 'Just leave the US' isn't as simple as folks might think. Its not like opportunities aboard are abundant either.
So NERC have quietly announced this afternoon that they're delaying/cancelling/suspending, whatever 'not launched at this time' means, their 2025 Independent Research Fellowship round. After announcing it 34 days ago.
Flip-flopping like this is really detrimental to early career researchers.
Flip-flopping like this is really detrimental to early career researchers.
June 17, 2025 at 5:44 PM
This is why 'Just leave the US' isn't as simple as folks might think. Its not like opportunities aboard are abundant either.