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Student Travel Grant for European Seismological Commission 2012 General Assembly

3 Feb 2012

In order to foster greater cooperation among seismological communities around the world, the European Seismological Commission offers a travel grant to help defray some of the costs for participating in the ESC General Assembly (SSA offers a complimentary grant for ESC student members).

The 2012 ESC/SSA Travel Grant is available to any SSA student member traveling from anywhere in the Americas to attend the 33rd ESC General Assembly being held in Moscow, August 19th – 24th. The grant includes a -fee waiver and a maximum amount of $1500 (USD) towards the costs of travel and accommodation.

Grant recipient must present a work in either an oral or poster session at the General Assembly.

Applicants will be notified of their award status one week before the deadline for abstract submission.

Applicants should first register at the ESC2012 website to create an account and receive a unique password.

Then, to apply for the ESC/SSA Travel Grant, please download the application form [Microsoft Word Doc file; 34 KB], fill it in and email it to esc2012@onlinereg.ruwith the subject "ESC/SSA Travel Grant Application."

Deadline for receipt of applications by ESC2012 LOC is March 20, 2012.

The application should provide reasons why you are a good candidate for the award. Include in the application the abstract that you will be submitting for presentation if you obtain the award.

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SSA 2013 Awards Nominations Deadline Approaching

2 Feb 2012

SSA members are invited to submit nominations for the following four SSA awards by 15 February 2012. Electronic submission is encouraged, though nominations may be submitted in hard copy.

Please note that the principal nominator should integrate the nomination letters and send one nomination package to ensure that all letters of endorsement reach the decision makers on time. Previous recipients of all awards are listed on the SSA website. No current member of the Board of Directors shall be eligible for award nomination.

Electronic submissions should be e-mailed in .TXT, .PDF or .DOC files to awards [at] seismosoc [dot] org.

While electronic submissions are encouraged, hard copies may be mailed or faxed to:

Secretary, Seismological Society of America c/o Susan Newman 201 Plaza Professional Building El Cerrito, California 94530 U.S.A. Fax: +1-510-525-7204

You will receive a confirmation of receipt of your nomination. Names of the award winners will be announced at the SSA Annual Meeting Luncheon in Memphis, Tennessee in April 2011. The awards will be presented at the 2012 SSA Annual Meeting Luncheon in San Diego, California.

Harry Fielding Reid Medal

The Harry Fielding Reid Medal of the Seismological Society of America, formerly known simply as “The SSA Medal,” is the Society’s highest honor. It is awarded for outstanding contributions in seismology or earthquake engineering. A Reid Medal nomination package should include letters of nomination from at least two but no more than five Society members. Each nominating letter may have more than one signatory, but each signatory should sign only one letter. A single curriculum vitae and bibliography of the nominee may be included. To simplify communications with the Secretary, nominators of a particular nominee should select among themselves a chief nominator for correspondence purposes. Submitting one integrated package insures that all endorsement letters will be included in the packet to the Board of Directors. For more information about the Reid Medal nomination process, contact Bob Engdahl, chairman of the Reid Medal Subcommittee, at engdahl [at] Colorado [dot] edu.

Charles F. Richter Early Career Award

The Charles F. Richter Early Career Award honors outstanding contributions to the goals of the Society by a member early in her or his career. A nominee must satisfy the following criteria: 1) Regular or Honorary Member of the Society in good standing, 2) the most recent academic degree must have been awarded no more than six years prior to 18 April of the year that she or he is selected for the award, and 3) not more than 40 years old on 18 April of the year that she or he is selected for the award.

Any member of the SSA who is not on the Richter Award Subcommittee may nominate a candidate for the Richter Award. A single nomination package must be submitted to the Secretary of the Society at the above address no later than 15 February of each year. The package should contain 1) a letter of nomination no more than 2 pages long summarizing the nominee’s significant accomplishments, 2) a curriculum vitae including bibliography, 3) two to four supporting letters no more than two pages long, at least two letters of which must come from individuals not currently employed at the nominee’s current institution or the institution from which the nominee received her or his most recent degree, and 4) an eligible birth date and date of degree. For more information about the Richter Early Career Award nomination process, contact Charlotte Rowe, chairman of the Richter Award Subcommittee, charl [at] lanl [dot] gov.

Frank Press Public Service Award

The Frank Press Public Service Award honors any individual, combination of individuals, or any organization that has served the profession of seismology or the advancement of public safety or public information relating to seismology. The Press Award nomination package should include a letter of nomination no longer than two pages that summarizes the nominee’s significant accomplishments, and two to four supporting letters, each no longer than two pages, at least one written by a member of the Society. If the nominee is an individual, the nomination may include a curriculum vitae or biography. For more information about the Press Public Service Award nomination process, contact David Wald, chairman of the Frank Press Public Service Award Subcommittee, at wald [at] usgs [dot] gov.

SSA Distinguished Service Award

The SSA Distinguished Service Award honors a person who has provided outstanding service to the Society. This award may be given to any person, and any Society member may make the nomination. Distinguished Service Award nominations should be submitted in a letter to the Secretary at the address above. For more information about the Distinguished Service Award nomination process, contact Lisa Grant Ludwig, chairman of the SSA Honors Committee, at lgrant [at] uci [dot] edu.

More information about SSA Awards, including lists of past recipients, is available in the awards section of the SSA website.

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SSA Announces Board of Directors Election Results

23 Jan 2012

The annual election of the Seismological Society of America was held on January 6, 2012. Votes of current members that were received by the deadline, 5 PM on that date, were tabulated and validated by Election America, Inc.

The following nominees for Director were elected to a three-year term beginning in April 2012: Steven M. Day, Jessica R. Murray-Moraleda, William U. (Woody) Savage, David Wald.

Four hundred and forty valid ballots were received and tabulated.

Statements from all of the candidates for SSA Board of Directors for 2012 are available online at http://www.seismosoc.org/news/2012_candidate_statements.php.

[Photo of Steven M. Day][Photo of Jessica R. Murray-Moraleda][Photo of William U. (Woody) Savage][Photo of David Wald]
L – R: Steven M. Day, Jessica R. Murray-Moraleda, William U. (Woody) Savage, David Wald

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Call for Nominations for 2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship

9 Dec 2011

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the Seismological Society of America (SSA) are pleased to announce the eleventh year of this jointly sponsored annual national lecture series in seismology. The selection committee seeks nominations from the seismological community for two lecturers for 2013. The general goal of the program is to increase the general public’s awareness of relevance and excitement for seismology through increased exposure.

Each of the two lectures will be given at least four times to general audiences at museums, universities or other public venues with target audiences of 200 or more. The general scope of the research presented must have clear and acknowledged tie-ins to SSA and IRIS. IRIS Education and Outreach and SSA will cover costs and assist with presentation, preparation, travel and other expenses. Each lecturer will also receive a $1000 honorarium. Lecturers must be resident in the US during 2013.

Nominations must include a vision statement, including a specific description of how the proposed presentation will fulfill the outreach goals of the lectureship program. Past experience and perspective on successfully communicating seismological ideas to large public audiences are desirable. Self-nominations are encouraged. For full consideration, nominations must be received by January 20, 2012.

More information, including past speakers and their presentations can be found at:

http://www.iris.edu/services/lectures/iris_ssa.htm

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Help identify regional ground motion databases and reports for PEER’s Global GMPE Project

19 Jul 2011

The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation has awarded the PEER Center with a project aimed at selecting a suite of Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) that can be used for Seismic Hazard evaluation at global and regional levels.

To complete this work for the Global GMPE Project, PEER researchers are in the process collecting comprehensive data and publications from around the world. In an effort to make sure that all relevant information is collected, PEER is seeking help from all members of the earthquake community to identify regional resources. In particular, the following two items are needed:

(1) Any regional Ground Motion Databases with a minimum moment magnitude Mw of 4.5 (except PEER, SHARE, K-Net, and KIK-NET);

(2) Any published Reports and Papers showing compatibility or performance of exisiting GMPEs versus regional data.

Please direct your information, references or publications to peer_center@berkeley.edu, before August 30, 2011 so that they can be included in the research project.

Additional information on PEER’s Global GMPE Project can be found at http://peer.berkeley.edu/globalgmpe/.

Thanks for your collaboration!

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SSA Releases Statement on Prosecution of Italian Seismologists

30 Jun 2011

The Seismological Society of America has released the following statement:

We are deeply concerned to learn that members of our society and their colleagues have been indicted by the Prosecutor’s Office in L’Aquila in connection with the tragic L’Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009. The occurrence of this disastrous earthquake unfortunately brought into the harsh light of public scrutiny both the high level of uncertainty in the science of short-term earthquake forecasting and the lack of a public policy framework in Italy (and, for that matter, many other parts of the world) for providing short-term guidance to the communities, populations, and infrastructure at risk.

Rather than pursuing unprecedented legal action against members of the seismological community, SSA urges public officials and community leaders to work to improve the way earthquake risks are communicated to the public. We also urge continued proactive efforts to support earthquake science and engineering and to establish and implement local and national programs in earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation. Education, awareness, and preparedness of the public officials and the general public, coupled with sound construction practices and retrofitting of older structures are currently the best available approaches for mitigating the effects of future earthquakes.

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Call for Papers: BSSA Special Issue on the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

22 Jun 2011

The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America will publish a special issue on the 11 March 2011 Magnitude 9.0–9.1 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. This is one of the best geophysically recorded great earth- quakes and the largest event to have occurred near Japan since at least 869 CE. The earthquake ruptured the megathrust plate boundary in the Japan subduction zone, creating a tsunami that devastated parts of northeastern Honshu for up to 5 kilometers inland and caused damage as far away as western North America. The size of the local tsunami contributed extensively to the high death and damage toll in the densely populated coastal region. Japan’s stringent seismic building codes, early-warning systems, and high public awareness of earthquake and tsunami hazards undoubtedly helped save many lives, but the size of the event and its tsunami exceeded expecta- tions that had guided some earthquake mitigation efforts. The mainshock was preceded by several foreshocks, including one of magnitude 7.2 on March 9. Japan is one of the most heavily instrumented areas on Earth, provid- ing extensive seismological, geodetic, and water-level information that will provide unprecedented resolution of this great earthquake event and the fundamental nature of deformation on the megathrust fault.

This BSSA special issue will focus on results of investigations into all seismological, geodetic, tsunami, other geophysical, geological, paleoseismic, and engineering aspects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Authors working in this area are encouraged to submit research papers for consideration as part of this special issue. We recommend that authors contact one of the guest editors, who are listed below with their primary responsibilities.

Papers on seismology:

  • Thorne Lay, University of California at Santa Cruz (tlay [at] es [dot] ucsc [dot] edu)
  • Justin Rubinstein, U.S. Geological Survey (jrubinstein [at] usgs [dot] gov)
  • Kazuki Koketsu, ERI, University of Tokyo (koketsu [at] eri [dot] u‐tokyo [dot] ac [dot] jp)

Papers on the tsunami and its effects:

  • Eric Geist, U.S. Geological Survey (egeist [at] usgs [dot] gov)
  • Yushiro Fujii, IISEE, Building Research Institute (fujii [at] kenken [dot] go [dot] jp)

Papers on geodesy:

  • Takeshi Sagiya, Nagoya University (sagiya [at] seis [dot] nagoya‐u [dot] ac [dot] jp>
  • Mark Simons, California Institute of Technology (simons [at] caltech [dot] edu)

The special issue will be published in May 2013. BSSA will begin accepting submissions immediately; the submission deadline is 31 March 2012. Manuscripts should be prepared as described at http://www.seismosoc.org/publications/bssa/authors/ and should be submitted via http://bssa.edmgr.com. Authors should select the category “2011 Tohoku Earthquake Special Issue” during the submittal process. Questions related to scientific issues may be addressed to Diane Doser, Editor-in-Chief, at bssaeditor [at] seismosoc [dot] org; questions related to submission of papers may be addressed to Carol Mark, Managing Editor, at bssa [at] seismosoc [dot] org.

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SSA President Rick Aster Testifies before Congress on USGS Budget Priorities

24 Mar 2011

SSA President Rzick Aster and others at Congressional HearingSSA President Rick Aster (left) testifying before the House Natural Resources Committee's subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

On 9 March 2011 the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on Examining the Spending Priorities and the Missions of the U.S. Geological Survey and the President’s FY 2012 Budget Proposal". SSA President Rick Aster provided invited testimony.

A webcast of the hearing is available at the Natural Resources Committee's website.

Also testifying were Marcia McNutt, USGS Director; John Palatiello of he Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS); Johnathan Price representing the Association of American State Geologists (AASG); Craig Schriffries of the Geological Society of America (GSA).

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House Holds Hearings on NEHRP Reauthorization

26 Jun 2009

Hearings on the Reauthorization of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program: R&D for Disaster Resilient Communities were held on June 11, 2009 by the the US House of Representatives Committee of Science and Technology, subcommittee on technology and Innovation. Testimony of the invited witnesses is available on the Committee's website at http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2483. SSA submitted a written comment for the record. It is posted at http://www.seismosoc.org/society/government/NEHRP_reauth_comment.php.

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Last Modified: 3 Feb 2012

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