This award was presented to Jeanne Hardebeck, USGS, Menlo Park, at the 2007 annual meeting. The Richter Committee noted that, “Hardebeck’s contributions to seismological research have been aimed at the central issues in earthquake studies including especially the state of stress and the strengths of faults, problems that have been persistently clouded by speculation and poor quality data. We are highly impressed by her innovative, insightful and unusually thorough work. Her accomplishments include the development of new investigative methods, such as better ways to determine focal mechanisms and stress orientation, methods that have been adopted by others in the seismic community, including people who are themselves experts in such analysis.
In addition, Jeanne Hardebeck’s career is notable for her work on practical problems such as fault structure in the Bay Area and the careful USGS investigation following the San Simeon earthquake. Jeanne works well in collaboration with others and often takes intellectual leadership . She is also an excellent speaker, and has stood her ground on a number of strongly debated issues.”