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National Tsunami Warning Center Expands Their Tsunami Outreach and Education Team

By Kimberly Hutchinson, National Tsunami Warning Center

The National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) has spent the last year expanding their Tsunami Outreach and Education Team to include Duty Scientists from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) along with newly hired Duty Scientists from NTWC. New members include Kayla Besong (PTWC), Kurt Hansen (NTWC), Justin Higa (PTWC), Pat Leisure (NTWC), and Ling Liu (NTWC). They join members Kim Hutchinson (NTWC), Summer Ohlendorf (NTWC) and Dave Snider (NTWC).

Duty Scientists new to the Tsunami Outreach and Education Team standing in NTWC’s operations room in Palmer, AK. From left to right: Pat Leisure, Ling Liu, Kayla Besong, and Kurt Hansen.
Duty Scientist Kim Hutchinson gives a tsunami talk to a local elementary school classroom.

As part of the NWS National School Outreach (NSO) team, members of the Tsunami Outreach and Education Team receive requests from teachers nationwide to deliver virtual talks about tsunamis to their classrooms through the NWS Education website. NTWC also provides in-person tours on tsunami operations in Palmer, AK, and visits to local schools for classroom talks or STEM nights via a separate request form.

A typical tsunami presentation covers key topics such as earthquakes, plate tectonics, tsunami formation, safety measures, emergency preparedness and community response. The talk can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each classroom or community group, with options for varying lengths (30 to 60 minutes) and different levels of detail depending on the age of the group. It is available in both English and Spanish.

In total for the 2025-2026 school year, the Tsunami Outreach and Education Team delivered:

  • 24 virtual talks to classrooms across the nation
  • 6 office talks & tours
  • 5 in-person talks to over 500 elementary school kids
Graphic summarizing each category of talk the NWS NSO team offers, along with QR codes that link to each group’s request form. Created by Amanda Roberts (amanda.roberts@noaa.gov).

Reaching:

  • An audience of over 1,800 people
  • Classrooms and educational groups from all across the country
  • Mainly school age children along with multiple community groups of all ages, all of whom may live near the coast or visit a coastline in the future.

The Tsunami Outreach and Education Team is looking forward to another great school year of educational tsunami talks and are incredibly thankful to everyone who has contributed their time and efforts to helping increase tsunami readiness across the country.

For more information about tsunamis and how you can prepare, visit tsunami.gov. If you or your office are interested in requesting a talk from one of our scientists, please contact Kim Hutchinson (kimberly.hutchinson@noaa.gov) or Dave Snider (david.snider@noaa.gov).

For more information about the NWS National School Outreach team, visit their website or contact team leads Kate Abbott (kathryn.abbott@noaa.gov) and Kevin Sullivan (kevin.a.sullivan@noaa.gov).

Suggested citation: Hutchinson, Kimberly, August 2026, National Tsunami Warning Center Expands Their Tsunami Outreach and Education Team: TsuInfo Alert. https://tsuinfoalert.blog/2026/08/31/national-tsunami-warning-center-expands-their-tsunami-outreach-and-education-team/ (accessed MM/DD/YYYY)

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