Exciting news! We're transitioning to the Statewide California Earthquake Center. Our new website is under construction, but we'll continue using this website for SCEC business in the meantime. We're also archiving the Southern Center site to preserve its rich history. A new and improved platform is coming soon!
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Organizational Structure

SCEC Organization

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) conducts and coordinates research on earthquakes using southern California as its main natural laboratory. Since 2002, SCEC has been sustained as a stand-alone science center under cooperative agreements with National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in five-year phases. SCEC’s research and education programs involve more than 1,000 researchers and collaborators at over 90 institutions.

The Center operates under a set of by-laws that outline the terms of the institutional membership, the roles and responsibilities of the principal investigators, Board of Directors, Center officers and standing committees, and the procedures for conducting their business.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors serves as the primary mechanism for SCEC core and participating institutional representation in the oversight and management of the Center. The Board is comprised of Institutional Directors from each core institution. In addition, two Institutional Directors-at-Large are nominated by the participating institutions to the Center Directors and approved by the Board to serve three-year terms. The Board also includes non-voting Liaison Members from the U.S. Geological Survey who help to coordinate Center and Survey activities. More information ...

Tim Dawson
CGS, Chair

Rachel Abercrombie
Boston U, Vice-Chair

Richard Allen
UC Berkeley

Sylvain Barbot
USC

Camilla Cattania
MIT

Yifeng Cui
SDSC

Benchun Duan
Texas A&M

Emily Haddad
ELAC

Chen Ji
UCSB

Christos Kyriakopoulos
University of Memphis

Jillian Maloney
SDSU

David Oglesby
UCR

Arben Pitarka
LLNL

Andreas Plesch
Harvard

Zach Ross
Caltech

John Rundle
UC Davis

Heather Savage
UCSC

Paul Segall
Stanford

Bruce Shaw
Columbia

Peter Shearer
UCSD

Dave Smith
PCC

Jon Stewart
UCLA

Daniel Trugman
UNR

Rowena Lohman
Cornell, At-Large

Ruth Harris
USGS Menlo Park

Nicolas Luco
USGS Golden

Katherine Scharer
USGS Pasadena

Mark Benthien
USC, Managing Coord

 

Science Planning Committee

The Science Planning Committee (SPC) is responsible for formulating the Center's Science Plan, conducting proposal reviews, and recommending to the Board of Directors an annual research program with a balanced portfolio of projects. Their objective is a coherent science program, consistent with SCEC's basic mission, institutional composition, and budget that achieves the Center's short-term objectives and long-term goals. The SPC consists of the leaders of the SCEC science working groups---disciplinary committees, focus groups, and special project groups---who, together with the Center Director, SPC Chair and Vice-Chair, guide SCEC's research program. A USGS Joint Planning Committee (JPC) participates in the annual science planning process and enables coordination between SCEC and USGS earthquake hazard studies. More information ...

Greg Beroza
Stanford, Chair

Judi Chester
TAMU, Vice-Chair

Cliff Thurber
UW, Seismology

Jamie Steidl
UCSB, Seismology

Gareth Funning
UCR, Geodesy

Manoo Shirzaei
Virginia Tech, Geodesy

Mike Oskin
UC Davis, Geology

Ashley Griffith
Ohio State, Geology

Ricardo Taborda
EAFIT, CS

Ahmed Elbanna
UIUC, CS

Phil Maechling
USC, CS

Nadia Lapusta
Caltech, FARM

Nick Beeler
USGS, FARM

Roland Bürgmann
UC Berkeley, SDOT

Karen Luttrell
LSU, SDOT

Max Werner
Bristol, EFP

 

Morgan Page
USGS, EFP

Domniki Asimaki
Caltech, GM

Annemarie Baltay
USGS, GM

Farzin Zareian
UCI, EEII

Michele Cooke
UM Amherst, SAFS

Ramon Arrowsmith
ASU, SAFS

Scott Marshall
Appalachian, CXM

Laurent Montesi
Maryland, CXM

Tran Huynh
USC, Managing Coord

 

CEO Planning Committee

The Communication, Education, and Outreach (CEO) Planning Committee includes stakeholders and key partners and represenatives of SCEC leadership, who provide guidance for SCEC's CEO programs, review and evaluate their impact, and identify synergies with other parts of SCEC and external organizations.

 

External Advisory Council

An external Advisory Council (AC) serves as an experienced body that provides an outside perspective on the Center’s activities. The AC is charged with developing an overview of SCEC operations and advising the SCEC Directors and Board of Directors on major issues that confront the Center. The AC also facilitates interactions with allied disciplines and entities with an interest in earthquake science and education.

Danielle Sumy
IRIS, Chair

Kate Long
Jones Ctr, Vice-Chair

Arrietta Chakos
Urban Resilience

 

Alan Levander
Rice Univ, Chair

Steve Bohlen
LLNL

Tim Cockerill
TACC

Francois Renard
Univ of Oslo

Tim Dawson
CGS

Sally McGill
CSUSB

Ricardo Taborda
EAFIT

 

Gabriel Toro
Lettis Consultants

Heidi Tremayne
EERI

Bob Woodward
EarthScope

Phil Maechling
USC, Managing Coord

Heidi Tremayne
EERI

Mark Benthien
USC, Managing Coord

           

 

Executive Committee of the Center

Yehuda Ben-Zion
USC, Director

Greg Beroza
Stanford, Co-Director

Judi Chester
TAMU, SPC VC

Tim Dawson
CGS, Board Chair

Rachel Abercrombie
Boston U, Board VC

The Executive Committee of the Center (ExCom) oversees the Center's day-to-day operations, which includes implementing policies for the management of the Center and ensuring that the available resources (funding, personnel and technologies) are allocated appropriately to meet the Center goals, contracts and agreements.

 

The ExCom consists of the Center Director, the Center Co-Director and Science Planning Committee Chair, the Board of Directors Chair and Vice Chair, the Science Planning Committee Vice Chair, the Executive Director for Applied Science, and the Associate Directors for CEO, Information Technology, and Science Operations, and the Director of Experiential Learning and Career Advancement.

Phil Maechling
USC, Assoc Dir IT

Tran Huynh
USC, Assc Dir Sci Ops

Mark Benthien
USC, Assoc Dir CEO

Gabriela Noriega
USC, Dir of ELCA

 

Center Staff at USC Headquarters

Xiaofeng Meng
Research Scientist

Guoliang Li
Postdoc Scholar

     

Applied Science: This group works on large-scale collaborative projects involving diverse disciplines related to earthquake hazard and risk. They connect SCEC scientists and research results with practicing engineers, government officials, business risk managers, and other professionals in order to improve application of earthquake science.

Phil Maechling
Assoc Dir for IT

Scott Callaghan
Computer Scientist

Fabio Silva
Computer Scientist

Mei-Hui Su
Research Programmer

 

Research Computing: This team of computer scientists and research programmers maintains, operates, and enhances SCEC software and computational tools for earthquake science, producing open-source distributions for the wider user community.

Tran Huynh
Assoc Dir for Sci Ops

Deborah Gormley
Business Ops Spec

Phoebe Long
Office Coordinator

Edric Pauk
Research Programmer

 

Science Operations: The operations team supports SCEC’s annual science and collaboration planning processes, including proposal submissions and reviews; allocation of funding to SCEC researchers; development of tools for community collaboration, project reporting and dissemintation; and management of workshops and annual meetings.

Mark Benthien
Assoc Dir for CEO

Gabriela Noriega
Director for ELCA

Edward Salcido
Web Developer

   

Communication, Education, & Outreach: The CEO team manages activities that aim to: improve the application of earthquake science in policy and practice; reduce the loss of life, property, and recovery time; increase science literacy; and increase diversity, retention, and career success in the scientific workforce.