11 July 2024–“We are on fire!”
That’s part of the positive feedback that Suzan van der Lee of Northwestern University and Emily Brodsky of the University of California, Santa Cruz received after their May training workshop on volcano and rift seismicity in East Africa, supported in part by a 2024 SSA Community Grant.
Grant funding allowed them to add four graduate students studying East African rifting or volcanism from U.S. universities to the workshop, where they collaborated with researchers from Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
“It was quite a unique workshop in terms of bringing together accomplished seismologists from East Africa with prominent, award-winning U.S.-based seismologists,” van der Lee said. “The SSA community grants program is a great way to enhance a workshop by adding participants that add valuable contributions, diversity of approach and might not otherwise have been included.”
Workshop attendees left the experience feeling inspired and motivated, receiving research feedback and establishing new collaborations, she added.
A 2024 Community Grant helped the organizers of the 11th annual Student Seismology Workshop provide full accommodations and meals for attendees. Across two days in June, graduate-level researchers presented scientific talks and posters and engaged in discussion across topics from seismic hazard assessment to earthquake early warning systems.
“For the past 11 years SSA has made the Seismology Student Workshop possible through their continued
financial support and without SSA this workshop would not be possible,” said Daly. “We try to make SSW as accessible as possible and encourage participation of attendees from diverse backgrounds.”
Of the 85.7% of attendees who responded to a survey distributed after SSW, 100% reported their overall satisfaction with the workshop as 5/5, and many respondents indicated that they would be interested in attending the workshop again in the future, the organizers said.
Applications are now open until 31 July for the next round of funding through the SSA Community Grants Program. These grants help support small scientific conferences, workshops and events that provide our members and future seismologists with opportunities for training, learning and networking.
Launched in 2022, the program accepts applications twice a year and is supported by generous donations to SSA’s General Fund.