Makes possible both the William B. Joyner Lecture Series and the Charles F. Richter Early Career Award. By supporting the fund, you can help educate others, honor outstanding work and inspire new accomplishments in our community.
The Joyner lecture series honors William B. Joyner’s career at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and his commitment to continuing communication and education at the interface between research findings of earthquake science and the practical realities of earthquake engineering.
Our most recent Joyner lecturer is Francisco José Sánchez-Sesma. His contributions to theory and method throughout his career have made a significant impact on seismic hazard assessment in earthquake engineering, aided by his early background as a structural engineer. He is best known for his contributions to methods, such as the Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM), for studying seismic wave propagation, especially amplification of seismic waves by complex 3D surface geological structures.
Sánchez-Sesma’s mastery of mathematical formulations, his development of new techniques of numerical simulations of wave propagation and techniques for data processing for seismic imaging were noted in his nomination for the Joyner award.
The Charles F. Richter Early Career Award, another important SSA award, honors outstanding contributions to the goals of the Society by a member early in their career. Kevin Milner, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geologic Hazards Science Center, was honored for his rare combination of computer science expertise, geophysical insight and his exceptional record of innovation and collaboration.
His research contributions—and numerous publications—related to seismic hazard analysis include advanced computational infrastructure open-source tool development, testing earthquake forecasting and early warning systems, quantification of epistemic uncertainty in hazard and risk models, and development of the National Seismic Hazard Model in the U.S. and New Zealand.