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2012
May
Under the Hood of the Earthquake Machine - we have developed the first computer model of an earthquake-producing fault segment that reproduces, in a single physical framework, the available observations of both the fault's seismic (fast) and aseismic (slow) behavior. More...
(Caltech press release | ScienceNOW |
LA Times | Our Amazing Planet |
Mercury News)
Thirty-six eighth graders from Le Lycee of Los Angeles visit the TO
- Postdoc Vito Rubino showed them "How to make earthquakes in the lab." Graduate student Thomas Ader led a presentation "When continents collide: working in the highest mountains of the world." Postdoc Katie Snell discussed "How scientists learn how tall mountains were in the past," and graduate student Marion Thomas led a presentation, in French, on "Pourquoi étudier la géologie? or Why study geology?"
Kanamori Named Foreign Associate of National Academy of Sciences
- Hiroo Kanamori, the John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has been elected one of 21 new foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences. More...
Ares Rosakis has been selected to receive the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques - this French award honors recipients globally who have made significant contributions to French culture, science, and education.
April
Graduate students Kristel Chanard and Steve Skinner, and visiting student Philippe Solans, visit a 6th grade class at PUSD's Blair Middle School - using legos, playdoh, and a sandbox, they led hands-on activities to teach deformation and mountain building.
Preliminary Analyses of the 2012 Sumatra Earthquake - We have obtained both a picture of the rupture propagation using back-projection of high-frequency seismic waveforms, as well as a slip map by modelling longer-period waveforms. More...
Graduate student Katie Stack and research scientist Jen Griffes give two presentations to middle school students in PUSD's Robotics program - Katie and Jen talked about their work on the geology of Mars, as members of the Curiosity rover team.
Caltech's journey to the center of the Earth - Professors Mike Gurnis, Jennifer Jackson, and Don Helmberger combine their talents to visualize what lies deep beneath the earth’s surface. Helmberger's group uses seismic modeling to map the core-mantle boundary and superplumes; Gurnis's group uses computational geodynamics to interpret seismological observations made on local, regional, and global scales; and Jackson's group looks at how earth materials behave under the extreme temperatures and pressures of the earth’s interior by recreating those conditions in a pocket-sized diamond anvil cell. (Caltech's E&S, Spring 2012)
36 sixth graders from Assumption School in Pasadena tour the TO and Seismo Lab - Professor Victor Tsai led a discussion on "Puzzled by Glaciers: Understanding these rivers of ice," Postdoc Sylvain Barbot led activities on "Inside the Earthquake Machine: How do we simulate the San Andreas Fault?", Postdoc Vito Rubino presented "How to make earthquakes in the lab," and Postdoc Erin Burkett spoke about "What it's like doing Geoscience research, and example models of plate tectonic processes."
March
Geodesy specialist John Galetzka gives talk on earthquake preparedness at the US embassy in Nepal - John's talk, "Nepal: Japan-size earthquakes, Haiti-like infrastructure," included a discussion on the September 18, 2011 earthquake in the eastern part of Nepal. It was well attended by Nepali government officials as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). See presentation...
Graduate student Ajay Limaye visits 6th grade class at PUSD's Washington Middle School - He showed how geologists use clues like bedforms and structure to unlock stories, and had the students travel to Mars and actively pan around a virtual-reality mosaic of a rock outcrop to make observations and develop geological hypotheses.
Thirty-six 6th graders from St. Bede's School in LaCanada tour the TO and Seismo Lab - Graduate student Thomas Ader gave a presentation on "Looking for the next earthquake in the Himalaya," Research Scientist Jamshid Hassanzadeh used calcite and HCl to demonstrate why Earth is not like Venus in "Are we children of the stars?", Postdoc Sylvain Barbot had the students experiment with an earthquake machine as part of his presentation on "Looking Inside the Earthquake Machine: How do we simulate the San Andreas Fault?", and Postdoc Erin Burkett led an activity with silly putty as a model for the asthenosphere in "What it's like doing Geoscience research, and example models of plate tectonic processes."
Professor Paul Asimow awarded the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching - Asimow was selected for his "exceptional energy, originality, and ability to explain complicated concepts effectively," according to the award citation. More...
February
Professor John Eiler gives Watson Lecture to the general public on "Journeying to the Earth's Past in the Isotope Time Machine," Wednesday, February 29 at 8:00 PM in Beckman Auditorium (free!) - this talk explores how the study of isotopes in rocks and fossils lets us peer into the past and quantitatively reconstruct geological and biological evolution, including measuring the body temperatures of dinosaurs. More...
The Geological Society of America names Jason Saleeby the recipient of their Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanology Division's Distinguished Geologic Career Award for this year - the award is given to an individual "who throughout his/her career, has made distinguished contributions in one or more of the following fields of research: mineralogy, geochemistry, petrology, and volcanology, with emphasis on multidisciplinary, field-based contributions." More...
Joe Kirschvink is selected by the Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to receive its 2011 William Gilbert Award - the award is given for excellence in at least one of the following categories: scientific rigor, originality, and the impact of research; leadership and service to the GP research community; development of new cross-disciplinary research areas and methods.
Ed Stolper receives Geochemical Society's V. M. Goldschmidt Award for 2012 - the highest award of the international geochemical community. More...
He also received the degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causia from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - in recognition of his ground-breaking contributions to igneous petrology, and the study of Earth's interior and other planets.
The TO hosts 75 fourth graders from Hamilton Elementary School - Graduate student Nina Lin led an activity where the students built their own rock collection. Graduate student Ajay Limaye gave a presentation on Rocks on the Move and showed how the scientific method is used in his work on landscape evolution. Postdoc Danielle Sumy gave a presentation on her work Out at Sea, and graduate student Junle Jiang led an activity on an earthquake machine. More...
Three scientists serve as judges at local science fair - Graduate student Thomas Ader, seismologist Jennifer Buz, and postdoc Brandon Schmandt spent a morning discussing science projects with students at Holy Redeemer Middle School in Montrose
Graduate student Janet Harvey participates in hike for school teachers up Rubio Canyon - Janet pointed out geological features the teachers could use when they lead their students on field trips through the canyon
John Galetzka, Geodesy Scientist, trains group to install and use continuous GPS station for their work in CO2 sequestration - the Kansas University group, under the direction of TO alumni Professor Mike Taylor, plans to use the GPS station to monitor ground deformation caused by the CO2 sequestration.
January 2012
Two scientists visit 6th grade class - Postdoc Katie Snell and graduate student Luca Malatesta visited a 6th grade class at Holy Redeemer Middle School in Montrose. They led activities on plate tectonics and mountain building.
Four scientists participate in GameDesk project to create Geoscience video games - Postdoc Erin Burkett, graduate students Belle Philibosian and Erika Swanson, and computer modeler Mark Turner contributed to a meeting at GameDesk as content experts (learn more)
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