Advancing earthquake science worldwide
This category is for the At Work column
21 June 2018–U.S. Geological Survey Research Geophysicist Annemarie Baltay recognized the importance of mathematics and the natural world at an early age. To keep her entertained in the car, her father would write math problems in a notebook for her to figure out. She also had a collection of rocks … Continue Reading »
11 May 2018–How big is an earthquake? Seismologists have been measuring this feature—the magnitude of an earthquake—for more than a century, but the answers are not always as straightforward as one would think, says Allison Bent, a research seismologist with Natural Resources Canada. Numbers associated with the Richter scale and … Continue Reading »
11 April 2018–In 1994, Natalia Ruppert arrived at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to start graduate school, uncertain whether she would stay for more than one semester. Now, Ruppert has been studying earthquakes in her adopted state and country for almost 25 years, with no plans to leave Fairbanks in … Continue Reading »
13 March 2018–The way that soil and rock behave during and after an earthquake are studied not just by earth scientists, but by the engineers who must build against the next earthquake. It’s an aspect of seismology that isn’t always recognized by the public, says University of Texas at Austin … Continue Reading »
26 January 2018–Kevin Milner was studying computer programming and 3D animation at the University of Southern California as an undergraduate when he took a sophomore-year internship with the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). SCEC was looking for help with 3D visualization software, “but I didn’t really know anything about earthquakes,” … Continue Reading »
27 December 2017–Xyoli Pérez-Campos was 11 years old when the magnitude 8.0 Michoacán earthquake struck the Mexico City region on 19 September 1985, collapsing buildings near her home. Her uncle survived the total collapse of the 13-story Nuevo León apartment building, in an area of the city devastated by the … Continue Reading »