Education

Ph.D. Geophysics & Space Physics 1983 University of California, Los Angeles

M.S. Geophysics & Space Physics 1981 University of California, Los Angeles

M.S. Electrical Engineering 1970 Princeton University

B.S. Electrical Engineering 1968 Texas Tech University

Professional Positions

Logos Research Associates, Vice President and Senior Research Associate, 10/2008-present.

Institute for Creation Research, Associate Professor of Geophysics, 1/05-6/08.

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Theoretical Division, Technical Staff Member, 2/84 to 6/04.

Rockwell International, Rocketdyne Division, Laser Department, Member of Technical Staff, 6/78-1/84.

Campus Crusade for Christ, Campus Ministry Staff, 7/75-6/78.

U. S. Air Force, Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Laser Division, Kirtland AFB, NM, Project Officer, 1/71-5/75.

Active Scientific Collaborations

John Sanford, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Cornell University.

Hans-Peter Bunge, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximillians University, Munich, Germany.

Uwe Walzer, Geophysical Institute, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.

Rhodri Davies, Department of Earth Sciences, Imperial College, London

Slava Solomatov, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis.

Highlights of Technical Career

• As a project officer during four years of active duty at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM, I had responsibilities in the design of the resonator optics for a large, classified CO2 gas dynamics laser that was later built and flown in the Airborne Laser Laboratory, a refitted KC-135 aircraft. As part of this effort I developed a 3D optics/power extraction code that solved the gas kinetics rate equations in the supersonic flow where the lasing and power extraction occurred and computed the optical quality of output beam as affected by shocks in the supersonic flow. The laser performed according to specs and successfully demonstrated the capability from an airborne platform to destroy incoming missiles.

• As part of my Ph.D. thesis research at UCLA I developed the 3-D spherical code now known as TERRA for modeling the dynamics of planetary mantles. This code utilized the then newly discovered multigrid method for solving the large elliptic systems of equations arising in this application. The efficiency of multigrid plus the advantages of the almost uniform icosahedral grid made such 3-D calculations feasible for the first time. This code was the first 3-D spherical code of its kind and continues almost 30 years later to be the state of the art and used by several research groups around the world.

• During my 20 years in a computational fluid dynamics research group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I was one of the main developers of the Pagosa code, a massively parallel multi-material Eulerian code that tracked material interfaces cell by cell in a robust high-order manner. The unique ability of this code at that time to treat a DOE mission-critical weapons application earned our team a Distinguished Performance Award in 1991.

• While at Los Alamos, I assisted the German Weather Service 1995-1999 in applying icosahedral grid techniques for modeling fluid flow on the sphere to the task of developing their next-generation weather forecast model named GME, a model that became operational in 2000 and is currently used in more than 20 countries.

• In 1996 I was part of a team of earth scientists who wrote a successful proposal for NASA’s High Performance Computing and Communication Initiative Round 2. This $1.3M award supported TERRA research from 1997-2000 and significantly advanced TERRA’s abilities. TERRA readily achieved NASA’s Round 2 massively parallel computing benchmarks.

• Also at Los Alamos, I was part of the ocean modeling team that developed the POP global ocean model, which is the ocean component of the NCAR Community Climate System Model, one of the two main U.S. climate models.

• During my tenure at Los Alamos, I supervised several graduate students who utilized my Terra mantle dynamics code for their Ph.D. thesis research.

• After retirement from Los Alamos, I have collaborated with Dr. John Sanford, a Cornell geneticist, to develop a state-of-the-art population genetics program named Mendel’s Accountant.

• Over 60 peer-reviewed publications.

Selected Publications

J. Sanford, J. Baumgardner, W. Brewer, “Selection threshold severely constrains capture of beneficial mutations,” submitted, 2010.

P. Gibson, J. Baumgardner, W. Brewer, and J. Sanford, “Selection threshold severely constrains elimination of deleterious mutations,” submitted, 2010.

J. Baumgardner, “Language, complexity, and design,” in Divine Action and Natural Selection: Science, Faith and Evolution, J. Seckback and R. Gordon, eds., World Scientific, Singapore, 939-980, 2009.

J. Baumgardner, J. Sanford, W. Brewer, P. Gibson, and W. ReMine, “Mendel’s Accountant: A new population genetics simulation tool for studying mutation and natural selection,” in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Creationism, A. A. Snelling, editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 87-98, 2008.

J. Sanford, J. Baumgardner, J. Sanford, W. Brewer, W. ReMine, and P. Gibson, “Using numerical simulation to test the validity of neo-Darwinian theory,” in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Creationism, A. A. Snelling, editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 165-176, 2008.

J. Sanford, J. Baumgardner, W. Brewer, P. Gibson, and W. ReMine, “Mendel’s Accountant: a biologically realistic forward-time population genetics program,” Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience, 8(2), 147-165, 2007.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Whole-mantle convection, continent generation, and preservation of geochemical heterogeneity,” in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’07, W. Nagel, D. Kröner, and M. Resch, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, IBSN 978-3-540-74738-3, 603-645, 2007.

J. Sanford, J. Baumgardner, W. Brewer, P. Gibson, and W. ReMine, “Using computer simulation to understand mutation accumulation dynamics and genetic load,” in Y. Shi et al. (eds.), ICCS 2007, Part II, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4488, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 386-392, 2007.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Continental growth and thermal convection in the Earth’s mantle,” in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’06, W. Nagel, W. Jäger, and M. Resch, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 978-3-540-36165-7, 473-497, 2006

K.-D. Gottschaldt, U. Walzer, R. F. Hendel, D. R. Stegman, J. R. Baumgardner, and H.-B. Muhlhaus, “Stirring in 3-d spherical models of convection in the Earth’s mantle,” Philosophical Magazine, 86, 3175-3204, 2006.

J. R. Baumgardner, “14C Evidence for a Recent Global Flood and a Young Earth,” in Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, Volume II, L. Vardiman, A. Snelling, and E. Chaffin, eds., Institute for Creation Research, Santee, CA, 587-630, 2005.

C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Scaling laws for time-dependent stagnant lid convection in a spherical shell,” Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 149, 361-370, 2005.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Plateness of the oceanic lithosphere and the thermal evolution of the Earth’s mantle,” in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’05, E. Krause, W. Jäger, and M. Resch, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 3540283773, 289-304, 2005.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “The effects of a variation of the radial viscosity profile on mantle evolution,” Tectonophysics, 384, 55-90, 2004.

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C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, J. R. Baumgardner, D. R. Stegman, and A. V. Vezolainen, “Magmatic evolution of impact-induced Martian mantle plumes and the origin of Tharsis,” J. Geophys. Res., 109, 10.1029/2003 JE002222, 2004.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Toward a geochemical model for the evolution of the Earth’s mantle,” in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’04, E. Krause, W. Jäger, and M. Resch, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 3-540-22943-4, 395-454, 2004.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Generation of plate-tectonic behavior and a new viscosity profile of the Earth’s mantle,” in NIC Symposium 2004 Proceedings, D. Wolf, G. Münster, and M. Kremer (eds.), NIC Series 20, 419-428., ISBN 3-00-012372-5, 2003.

J. R. Baumgardner, “Catastrophic plate tectonics: the physics behind the Genesis Flood,” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, R. L. Ivey, Jr., Editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 113-126, 2003.

D. R. Humphreys, S. A. Austin, J. R. Baumgardner, and A. A Snelling, “Helium diffusion rates support accelerated nuclear decay,” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, R. L. Ivey, Jr., editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 175-196, 2003.

L. Vardiman, S. A. Austin, J. R. Baumgardner, E. F. Chafin, D. B. DeYoung, D. R. Humphreys and A. A Snelling, “Radioisotopes and the age of the Earth,” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, R. L. Ivey, Jr., editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 337-348, 2003.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Viscosity stratification and a 3-D compressible spherical shell model of mantle evolution”, in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’03, E. Krause, W. Jäger, and M. Resch, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 3-540-40850-9, 27-67, 2003.

D. R. Stegman, A.M. Jellinek, S. A. Zatman, J. R. Baumgardner, and M. A. Richards, “An early lunar core dynamo driven by thermochemical mantle convection,” Nature, 421, 143-146, 2003.

M. F. Horstemeyer and J. R. Baumgardner, “What initiated the Flood cataclysm?” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, R. L. Ivey, Jr., editor, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 155-164, 2003.

J. R. Baumgardner, “Catastrophic plate tectonics: the geophysical context of the Genesis Flood,” “Dealing carefully with the data,” and “A constructive quest for truth,” all contributions to a “Forum on Catastrophic Plate Tectonics,” Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, 16, 57-85, 2002. (http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/tj/docs/16n1p57Forum.asp)

H.-P. Bunge, M. A. Richards, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Mantle-circulation models with sequential data assimilation: inferring present-day mantle structure from plate-motion histories,” Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A., 360, 2545-2567, 2002.

D. A. Randall, T. D. Ringler, R. P. Heikes, P. Jones, and J. Baumgardner, “Climate Modeling with Spherical Geodesic Grids,” Computing in Science and Engineering, 4(5), 32-41, 2002.

U. Walzer, R. Hendel, and J. Baumgardner, “Variation of non-dimensional numbers and a thermal evolution model of the Earth’s mantle,” in High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ’02, E. Krause and W. Jäger, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 3-540-43860-2, 89-103, 2002.

D. R. Stegman, M.A. Richards, and J.R. Baumgardner, Effects of depth dependent viscosity and plate motions on maintaining a relatively uniform MORB reservoir in whole mantle flow, J. Geophys. Res., 107, (B6), 2116, doi:10.1029/2001JB000192, 2002.

C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Survival of impact-induced thermal anomalies in the Martian mantle,” J. Geophys. Res.- Planets, 107(10), 5082-5092, 2002.

D. Majewski, D. Liermann, P. Prohl, B. Ritter, M. Buchhold, T. Hanisch, G. Paul, W. Wergen, and J. Baumgardner, “The global icosahedral-hexagonal grid point model GME: Operational version and high resolution tests,” Mon. Wea. Rev., 130, 319-338, 2002.

M. A. Richards, W.-S. Yang, and J. R. Baumgardner, “The role of a low viscosity zone in stabilizing plate tectonics: implications for comparative terrestrial planetology,” Geochem., Geophys., Geosys., 2, 2001J. R. Baumgardner, “Distribution of Radioactive Isotopes in the Earth” in Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young Earth Creation Research Initiative, Larry Vardiman, Andrew A. Snelling, and Eugene F. Chaffin, eds., Institute for Creation Research, Santee, CA, 49-94, 2000.

J. K. Dukowicz and J. R. Baumgardner, “Incremental remapping as a transport/advection algorithm,” J. Comp. Phys., 160, 318-335, 2000.

W.-S. Yang and J. R. Baumgardner, “Matrix-dependent transfer multigrid method for strongly variable viscosity infinite Prandtl number thermal convection,” Geophys. and Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., 92, 151-195, 2000.

H. R. Wenk, J. R. Baumgardner, C. N. Tome, and R. Lebensohn, “A deformation model to explain anisotropy of the inner core,” J. Geophys. Res., 105, 5663-5677, 2000.

M. A. Richards, H.-P. Bunge, C. Lithgow-Bertelloni, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Mantle convection and plate motion history: Toward general circulation models,” History and Dynamics of Global Plate Motions, AGU Monograph Series, 1999.

M. A. Richards, H.-P. Bunge, Y. Ricard, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Polar wandering in mantle convection models,” Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 1777-1780, 1999.

H.-P. Bunge, M. A. Richards, C. Lithgow-Bertelloni, J. R. Baumgardner, S. P. Grand, and B. A. Romanowicz, “Time scales and heterogeneity structure in geodynamic earth models,” Science, 280, 91-95, 1998.

Hans-Peter Bunge, Mark A. Richards, and John R. Baumgardner, “A sensitivity study of 3-D spherical mantle convection at 108 Rayleigh number: effects of depth-dependent viscosity, heating mode, and an endothermic phase change,” J. Geophys. Res.,102, B6, 11991-12007, 1997.

Hans-Peter Bunge, Mark A. Richards, and John R. Baumgardner, “The effect of depth-dependent viscosity on the planform of mantle convection,” Nature, 379, 436-438, 1996.

Hans-Peter Bunge and John R. Baumgardner, “Mantle convection modeling on parallel virtual machines,” Computers in Physics, 9, 207-215, 1995.

S. A. Austin, J. R. Baumgardner, D. R. Humphreys, A. A. Snelling, L. Vardiman, and K. P. Wise, “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: A Global Flood Model of Earth History,” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, Technical Symposium Sessions, R. E. Walsh, ed., Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, 609-621, 1994.

J. R. Baumgardner, “Computer Modeling of the Large-Scale Tectonics Associated with the Genesis Flood,” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, Technical Symposium Sessions, R. E. Walsh, ed., Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, 49-62, 1994.

J. R. Baumgardner, “Runaway Subduction as the Driving Mechanism for the Genesis Flood,” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, Technical Symposium Sessions, R. E. Walsh, ed., Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, 63-75, 1994.

J. R. Baumgardner and D. W. Barnette, “Patterns of Ocean Circulation over the Continents During Noah’s Flood,” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, Technical Symposium Sessions, R. E. Walsh, ed., Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, 77-86, 1994.

D. B. Kothe, J. R. Baumgardner, J. H. Cerutti, B. J. Daly, K. S. Holian, E. M. Kober, S. J. Mosso, J. W. Painter, R. D. Smith, and M. D. Torrey, “PAGOSA: A massively-parallel, multi-material hydrodynamics model for three-dimensional high-speed flow and high-rate material deformation,” Proceedings of the 1993 Conference on High Performance Computing: Grand Challenges in Computer Simulation, Society for Computer Simulation, 9-14, 1993.

John R. Baumgardner, “3-D numerical investigation of the mantle dynamics associated with the breakup of Pangea,” in Flow and Creep in the Solar System: Observations, Modeling, and Theory, D. B. Stone and S. K. Runcorn, eds., NATO ASI Series C, Vol. 391, 207-224, 1993.

M. A. Moreno, G. Schubert, J. Baumgardner, M. G. Kivelson, and D. A. Paige, “Io’s volcanic and sublimation atmospheres,” Icarus, 93, 63-81, 1991.

John R. Baumgardner, “Application of supercomputers to 3-D mantle convection,” in The Physics of the Planets, S. K. Runcorn, ed., John Wiley and Sons, 199-231, 1988.

J. Baumgardner, M. A. Moreno, G. Schubert, and M. G. Kivelson, “Two classes of volcanic eruptions and their corresponding atmospheres on Io,” Bull. Am. Astr. Assoc., 19(3), 856, 1987.

John R. Baumgardner, “Three-dimensional treatment of convective flow in the earth’s mantle,” J. Stat. Phys., 39, 501-511, 1985.

John R. Baumgardner and Paul O. Frederickson, “Icosahedral discretization of the two-sphere,” SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 22, 1107-1115, 1985.

Selected Conference Abstracts

D. R. Stegman, M. Jellinek, J. Baumgardner, and M. Richards, “A mantle dynamics perspective on generating an early lunar dynamo,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 84, (2003 Fall Meeting Supplement), 2003.

D. R. Humphreys, J. R. Baumgardner, A. A. Snelling, and S. A. Austin, “Recently measured helium diffusion rate for zircon suggests inconsistency with U-Pb age for Fenton Hill granodiorite,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 84, (2003 Fall Meeting Supplement), 2003.

J. R. Baumgardner, Y. Yamagishi, and D.R. Stegman, “Efficient visual data exploration in high-resolution global dynamical models of the Earth’s mantle,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 83, (2002 Fall Meeting Supplement), 2002.

J. R. Baumgardner, “3D numerical modeling of the dynamics of Earth’s mantle,” Am. Phys. Soc. Four Corners Annual Meeting, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 2001.

J. R. Baumgardner, W.-S. Yang, and M. A. Richards, “The role of a low viscosity zone in stabilizing a plate tectonics style of mantle convection,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 81, (2000 Fall Meeting Supplement), 2000.

J. R. Baumgardner and W.-S. Yang, “Earthlike mantle convection from relatively simple rheology,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F26, 1999.

M. A. Richards, W.-S. Yang, and J. R. Baumgardner, “The effectiveness of finite yield stress in obtaining platelike surface velocities,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F962, 1999.

D. R. Stegman, M. A. Richards, and J. R. Baumgardner, “A parallel implementation of Lagrangian tracers in TERRA,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F950, 1999.

C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, and J. R. Baumgardner, “Impacts and the thermal evolution of Mars,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F618, 1999.

John R. Baumgardner, Mark A. Richards, Woo-Sun Yang, and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni, “3-D Spherical Models of Plate Motion With Laterally Varying Rheology,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 79, (1998 Fall Meeting Supplement), F911, 1998.

John R. Baumgardner and Woo-Sun Yang, “A finite element multigrid formulation for variable viscosity in 3-D spherical geometry,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 77, (Fall Meeting Supplement), F750, 1996.

J. R. Baumgardner, “Thermal runaway in the mantle” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 75, 687, 1994.

John Baumgardner, “3-D numerical investigation of the mantle dynamics associated with the breakup of Pangea,” (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 73, 1992 Fall Meeting Abstract Volume, 576-577, 1992.