A Statement to Our Community

I write you as the president of SSA, a global society of Earth scientists that values the diversity of voices and backgrounds in our community. Along with the rest of the SSA leadership, I am disturbed and disheartened by the senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Recent racist events … Continue Reading »

At Work: Janis Hernandez

Janis Hernandez at Ridgecrest fault

15 May 2020–When Janis Hernandez was studying for her associate degree, she took an introduction to geology class to meet a science requirement. “After that, I kept thinking, ‘what’s wrong with me, why am I thinking so much about rocks?’” she says. “It was just so interesting. And once you … Continue Reading »

“Lettere Patenti” Help Assess Intensity of Historic Central Italian Earthquakes

Roman administrative document

13 May 2020–Three hundred-year-old administrative documents from the Roman government, granting residents permission to repair damage to their buildings, can help modern-day seismologists calculate intensities for a notable sequence of earthquakes that struck central Italy in 1703. Details gleaned from these “Lettere Patenti” offer a unique glimpse at the geographical … Continue Reading »

At Work: Hrvoje Tkalčić

Hrvoje Tkalčić

15 April 2020–Exploring planets other than the Earth was Hrvoje Tkalčić’s first love, he says. “Ever since I can remember I wanted to become an astronaut.” Tkalčić, now the head of seismology and mathematical geophysics at The Australian National University, was fascinated by the universe and adept in mathematics and … Continue Reading »