Research
I am currently the Director of the Pacific Museum of Earth (PME), one of UBC's main outreach hubs. Located in the Earth and Ocean Sciences Main building, the PME provides an educational window into the wide variety of research conducted in the Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences. My role as Director is to oversee how the museum engages, excites, and educates the UBC community as well as local youth and teachers. Our work at the PME provides a link between the fundamental science that shapes our planet ("How science works in general") and topics that have environmental, economic, and societal importance ("Why do we care?").
Since we, as a community, are linked to both the good & bad advances in science, it is critical to understand the basics of how our planet works. This knowledge will help us interpret and evaluate, for example, the media's coverage of current scientific events. As scientists, we are storytellers armed with the knowledge of how and why stuff works. It's my commitment as Director of the PME to leverage this skill and create a fun and engaging space (both physical & virtual) where UBC's top Earth and planetary science scholars can disseminate their expertise.
My science background: I am trained as a volcanologist and science educator. My past research used experimental fluid dynamics to understand how magma moves and mixes below volcanoes. I used lab experiments to answer questions arising from detailed field observations (e.g. testing models for magmatic enclave formation) and to understand the fundamental physics of the transport of material into, within, and out of magma reservoirs. The goal of this work was to unravel the dynamic processes that occur below volcanoes prior to eruption and understand how plutonic rocks exposed at Earth’s surface preserve these time-dependent processes. The overarching goal of this research was to better understand how magma reservoirs grow, differentiate, and ultimately erupt at Earth’s surface. This work contributes to our understanding of fundamental geologic processes such as continental crust formation, magma chamber growth, and volcanic eruption triggers.
If you are a current UBC student (graduate or undergraduate) with an interest in museum studies, science education, and/or public science outreach please get in touch with me for current museum opportunities at the Pacific Museum of Earth: pme@eoas.ubc.ca.
Research Areas
- Geology
- Geophysics
- Geoscience Education
Teaching
EOSC 518 - Science Communication and Outreach in Museum and Other Informal Learning Settings
EOSC 310 - The Earth and the Solar System
EOSC 114 - The Catastrophic Earth: Natural Disasters
EOSC 118 - Earth's Treasures: Gold and Gems
EOSC 223 - Field Techniques
Biography
- M.Ed. in Museum Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2024.
- Ph.D. in Geophysics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 2012.
- B.A. (Honors) in Geology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. 2006
Publications
2025
Nelson, L., Hodge, K. F., Beeby Maglaque, F. O., & Jones, F. (2025). A Centennial Action Plan for Change: Revitalizing and Reimagining the Pacific Museum of Earth’s Geological Collections (ID 85). Submitted for Presentation at the GAC-MAC May 2025 - Ottawa.
2024
Hodge, K. F., 2024. The Impact of Narrative and Spatial Design on Visitor Engagement: Insights from the Life at the Edge Exhibit at the Pacific Museum of Earth. Master’s graduating paper, University of British Columbia.
Hodge, K. F., 2024. Atmosphere, AI, and Design: Shaking up the Visitor Experience at the Pacific Museum of Earth [Presentation]. Lunch & Learn, Geoscience Education & Communication Division of GAC.
Hodge, K. F., 2024. Creating Interactive Places: AI-Powered Public Engagement - Hello Lamp Post [Webinar panellist]. Glasgow Airport, Olympia, Pacific Museum of Earth and the British Council for Urbanism.
Beeby Maglaque, F., Hodge, K. F., Moore, R., Sidhu, R., Fitz-Gerald, W., Lukes, L., Betz, E., Anderson, D., & Pete, S., 2024. Co-Creating the Future of Science Communication: The SCI-LEnS Project at the University of British Columbia. Earth Educators' Rendezvous, Philadelphia, PA, July 15-19, 2024.
Betz, E., Lukes, L., Beeby Maglaque, F., & Hodge, K. F., 2024. Evaluating the course curriculum for a graduate course focused on teaching and learning in informal spaces [Poster presentation]. Earth Educators’ Rendezvous, Philadelphia, PA, July 15-19, 2024.
Milner-Bolotin, M. Nicol, C., Anderson, D., Noori, S., Toma, M. J., Martinovic, D., Tembrevilla, G., Radzimski, V., Moll, R., Lee, C., McIntosh, L., and Hodge, K. F., 2024. Province-wide STEM Network: Outreach Collaboration across British Columbia. ISSE2024: 8th International STEM in Education Conference, August 2024, University of Calgary.
2023
Hodge, K. F. and B. Shivanandan, 2023. Climate Hero – An Online Escape Room where AI meets Climate Education. Eco Summit, March 2 – 22, 2023.
2022
L. Lukes, Hodge, K. F., S. Eix, 2022. Strategies for Expanding Science Centre/Museum Impact Evaluation Capacity Through Postsecondary Experiential Learning Partnerships. CASC 2022 Action to Impact.
Hodge, K. F., D. Gowryluk, O. Beeby, 2022. The Pacific Museum of Earth: a look back, a step forward. GACMAC-IAH-CNC-CSPG Joint Meeting. Halifax, N.S..
2020
Hodge K.F., Jellinek A.M. 2020. The Influence of Magma Mixing on the Composition of Andesite Magmas and Silicic Eruption Style. Geophysical Research Letters.
2019
Maternity Leave
2018
K. Hodge, S. Sutherland, K. Brink, J. Chambers, Y. Stranger-Galey. Bringing the old out for the new: The revival of UBC’s Fossil Collection. 2018.
K. Brink, K. Hodge, and S. Sutherland, The History of the University of British Columbia Fossil Collection Pacific Museum of Earth, University of British Columbia. 2018.
2017
Hodge, K. F., A. M. Jellinek, 2017. Mixing magmas: A mechanical recipe for Earth’s continental crust. IAVCEI meeting, Portland, U.S.A.
2016
R. A. Wiebe, A. M. Jellinek, Hodge, K. F., New insights into the origin of ladder dikes: Implications for punctuated growth and crystal accumulation in the Cathedral Peak granodiorite, Lithos, 2016.
Maternity Leave
2014
Hodge, K. F., A. Grau, C. L. Johnson, A. Mittelholz, L. Philpott, 2014. Planetary picks: a closer look at Mars–Public Outreach at the Pacific Museum of Earth. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. – Invited
Hodge, K. F., A. Sundell, C. J. Northrup, and C. Spinosa, 2014. Boise State University’s geology field school: a geological, educational, and cultural experience in Sardinia, Italy. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.
2012
Hodge, K. F. and A.M. Jellinek, Linking enclave formation to magma rheology, Journal of Geophysical Research–Solid Earth, Vol. 117, 2012.
Hodge, K. F., G. Carazzo, X. Montague, and A.M. Jellinek, Field constraints on the deformation and breakup of injected magma: A case study of ladder dikes in the Cathedral Peak granodiorite, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 29 April 2012.
Hodge, K. F., G. Carazzo, A. M. Jellinek, Experimental constraints on the deformation and breakup of injected magma, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volumes 325-326, 1 April 2012, Pages 52-62.
Verberne R., K. F. Hodge, P. Ulmer, and O. Müntener, 2012. Constraints on magma migration during pluton emplacement from break-up of a syn-plutonic dike in the southern Adamello batholith. 4-D Adamello Conference, Bagolino, Italy, The 4-D Adamello Conference, Bagolino, Italy.
2011
Hodge, K. F., G. Carazzo, A. M. Jellinek, 2011. Experimental constraints on the formation of mafic enclaves vs. mafic-silicic layered intrusions, AGU Fall Meeting.
R. Verberne, K. F. Hodge, P. Ulmer, O. Müntener, 2011. Quantifying deformation in a magma reservoir–a rheology study of the Listino Ring Structure, Adamello Massif, N. Italy, AGU Fall Meeting.
2010
Hodge, K. F., G. Carazzo, A. M. Jellinek, 2010. Field and experimental constraints on the deformation and break-up of injected magma, AGU Fall Meeting. – Invited
2008
Hodge, K. F., A, M. Jellinek, 2008. Field and Experimental Constraints on the Rheology of Silicic Magma, AGU Fall Meeting.
Hodge, K. F., A. M. Jellinek, 2008. Linking a Magma’s Microstructure to a Macroscopic Description of its Rheology. IAVCEI meeting, Iceland.
2006
Miller, J., C. F. Miller, J. Wooden, D. Perrault, K. F. Hodge, J. Faulds, N. Cates, M. Means, 2006. A 2 Million Year History of Plutonism and Volcanism in the Searchlight Magma System, Eldorado Mountains, Nevada (USA). AGU Fall Meeting.
Bazar, D., J. Miller, C. F. Miller, M. Dodge, K. F. Hodge, J. Faulds, 2006. Eruption of Deep Mushy Magma from the Searchlight Magma System, Southern Nevada (USA): A Crystal Size Distribution and Geochemical Analysis. AGU Fall Meeting.
Hodge, K. F., C. F. Miller, J. Miller, and J. Faulds, 2006. Dike Emplacement at the Searchlight, NV, Volcano-Plutonic Complex; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 5, p. 95.
2004
Grice, W. C., D. Foster, T. Kalakay, H. A. Bleick, K. F. Hodge, 2004. Style and Timing of Crustal Attenuation in the Anaconda Metamorphic Core Complex, Western Montana; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 546.