SSA’s 2023 Ground Motion Modeling Conference took place 10-13 October 2023 in Vancouver, Canada. Thanks to generous donations from the community to the Kanamori Fund, SSA was able to provide four travel grants to Early-career and Student members. Read on to learn about what this grant meant to one of the recipients.
Simona Gabrielli has a message for her peers: “Apply for SSA travel grants! They can help you not only financially, but also in growing as a scientist and in networking with experts in many seismological fields,” she says.
Gabrielli, an early-career member from Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, knows this firsthand. She just attended the Society’s Physics-Based Ground Motion Conference in Vancouver, Canada, with the aid of an SSA travel grant.
“The conference helped me understand the basics of ground motion, from the source (kinematic and dynamic) to the site effects, passing through more engineering topics that are completely new to me,” she says. “It was nice to see cooperation between seismologists, physicists, engineers, and geologists like me all focused on making high seismic-risk areas safe around the world.”
SSA is committed to helping newcomers like Gabrielli learn and network with scientists worldwide. In February, 
applications will open for the Society’s new Paul Andrew Spudich Travel Grants. The program honors the late seismologist Paul Andrew Spudich by supporting travel for SSA student and early-career members who have a research focus on earthquake source physics or ground motion prediction.
Eligibility requirements and application criteria:
- Applicant must be an SSA student or early-career member in good standing for at least three months prior to open application period
- Attendance at the meeting must be directly connected to the study of earthquake source physics or ground motion prediction
- All applicants must have a faculty advisor or supervisor submit a letter of support on their behalf. All letters should be sent to ssagrants@seismosoc.org before the application deadline.
Also opening this February is the SSA Global Travel Grants Program. Through this program, SSA offers early-career and student members financial support to attend and present their research at scientific conferences and workshops anywhere in the world. The upcoming February application period covers travel from May through October 2024. Visit our website for more details about the program.
Eligibility requirements and application criteria:
- Applicant must be an SSA student or early-career member in good standing for at least six months prior to open application period.
- Attendance at the meeting must be directly connected to the study or application of earthquake science or seismology.
- All applicants must have a faculty advisor or supervisor submit a letter of support on their behalf. All letters should be sent to ssagrants@seismosoc.org before the application deadline.