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!
< Back to Announcement List

Happy New Year

Date: 01/06/2023

Dear SCEC Community,

Happy New Year!  Although SCEC5 sunsets this year, we are not resting on SCEC’s legacy of nearly 32 years of fostering innovative earthquake science and extensive communication, education, and outreach activities. On the contrary, we are gearing up for an exciting year of growth and new opportunities.  Here we include a few updates on planned activities in the next few months:

  • SCEC continues to support community workshops and two SCEC workshops are scheduled for January.  First up is the SCEC Dynamic Rupture TAG Workshop - Investigating New Ideas in Earthquake Source Mechanics (https://www.scec.org/workshops/2023/dynrup) on January 12.  We would like to thank Ruth Harris and Michael Barrall for organizing this workshop.  The second early 2023 SCEC workshop will be the SCEC Stress Drop TAG Workshop, co-led by Rachel Abercrombie and Annemarie Baltay on January 26. See information at https://www.scec.org/research/stress-drop-validation . 
  • Also of interest to the SCEC Community, the USGS will be hosting the annual Northern California Earthquake Hazards Workshop on January 31 – February 2.  SCEC will participate in discussions of community models and other topics. Register for this online workshop here: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/esc/workshop/
  • The SCEC Board of Directors has a new Board Chair and Vice-Chair.  As announced in the December newsletter, Tim Dawson is now the new Board Chair and Rachel Abercrombie will now serve as Vice-Chair. Please join us in thanking again Rachel Abercrombie who served as the SCEC Board Chair for much of 2022, and Emily Brodsky who served as the Vice-Chair for much of SCEC5.
  • We recently received exciting news that a 3-year proposal submitted to the Department of Energy on “properties and dynamics of the shallow crust” was recommended for funding. This project will help to support research of the broad SCEC community on the shallow crust starting this year. 
  • As in every January, the SCEC Science Planning Committee (SPC) will meet soon to review proposals that were submitted in November.  We would like to thank everyone who submitted proposals, as well as the members of the SPC for their valuable time reviewing these proposals.

As a community, we have much to look forward to in 2023, and beyond, as we await to hear from NSF in the coming months on the outcome of the proposal on the Statewide California Earthquake Center. The M 6.4 Ferndale earthquake that occurred on December 20 provided a timely reminder that earthquakes pose a threat across northern California. The ongoing sequence of storms, flooding, wind, and wave damage is a reminder that a statewide geohazards approach is important for protecting communities against natural damaging events. This year will mark the 90th anniversary of the Long Beach earthquake, which stands as the second deadliest earthquake in California history, and which was a landmark event for the development of earthquake policy. With this historical context we emphasize that SCEC remains committed to serving as a vibrant hub of earthquake science and related activities for many years to come.

We wish everyone a happy and productive new year,

Yehuda Ben-Zion (Director)

Greg Beroza (Co-Director)

Tim Dawson (Board Chair)

Rachel Abercrombie (Board Vice-Chair)