Southern California Earthquake Center University of Southern California
Software Engineer
Expertise: Ground Motion Simulations, Statistical Seismology, High Performance Computing
About Me
Publications
William started his SCEC career as a SURE intern in 2011 working with Dr. John Louie. His research focused on developing realistic models of small-scale heterogeneities in upper crust and simulating earthquake ground motions through these complex models. He completed his Bachelor's in Geophysics at University of Nevada, Reno in 2012.
His research as a SCEC intern became the focus of this Ph.D. that he completed in 2017 working with Dr. Kim Olsen and Dr. Steve Day in a joint-doctoral program between San Diego State University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. During his Ph.D., he became passionate about software development and using software to ensure reproducible scientific results.
William began working at SCEC in January of 2018 as a research programmer for the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability. Within CSEP, William is responsible for researching new ideas for evaluating earthquake forecasting models, and implementing these ideas as tools to allow for unbiased evaluations of earthquake forecasting models. This research aims to improve our capability to forecast earthquakes and to instill confidence in the merits of earthquake forecasting.
Savran, W. H., & Olsen, K. B. (2019). Ground motion simulation and validation of the 2008 Chino Hills earthquake in scattering media. Geophysical Journal International, (awaiting publication). SCEC Contribution 9936
Savran, W. H., Louie, J. N., Flinchum, B., Pullammanappallil, S. K., & Pancha, A. (2012). Spatial statistics of the Clark County Parcel Map, trial geotechnical models, and effects on earthquake ground motions in Las Vegas Valley. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, (submitted). SCEC Contribution 1595
Savran, W. H., Louie, J. N., Flinchum, B., Pullammanappallil, S. K., & Pancha, A. (2012). Spatial statistics of the Clark County Parcel Map, trial geotechnical models, and effects on earthquake ground motions in Las Vegas Valley. Presentation at 2012 Symposium on Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering. SCEC Contribution 1536
Savran, W. H., Flinchum, B., Plank, G., Dudley, C., Prina, N., & Louie, J. N. (2011). Comparing Physics-Based Next-Level ShakeZoning Computations with USGS ShakeMap Statistics for Southern Nevada Earthquake Scenarios. Oral Presentation at NWRA Symposium 2011. SCEC Contribution 1474
Savran, W. H., & Olsen, K. B. (2016). Model for Small-Scale Crustal Heterogeneity in Los Angeles Basin Based on Inversion of Sonic Log Data. Geophysical Journal International, 205, 856-863. SCEC Contribution 6178
Savran, W. H., & Olsen, K. B. (2014). Deterministic simulation of the Mw5.4 Chino Hills event with frequency-dependent attenuation, heterogeneous velocity structure and realistic source model. Seismological Research Letters, 85(2), 498. SCEC Contribution 2001
Flinchum, B., Louie, J. N., Smith, K. D., Savran, W. H., Pullammanappallil, S. K., & Pancha, A. (2014). Validating Nevada ShakeZoning Predictions of Las Vegas Basin Response against 1992 Little Skull Mountain Earthquake Records. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 104(1). doi: 10.1785/0120130059. SCEC Contribution 1594
Olsen, K. B., Savran, W. H., & Jacobsen, B. H. (2013). Ground motion prediction from low-velocity sediments including statistical models of inhomogeneities in Southern California basins. Seismological Research Letters, 84(2), 334. SCEC Contribution 1860
Flinchum, B. A., Savran, W. H., Smith, K. D., Louie, J. N., Pullammanappallil, S. K., & Pancha, A. (2012, 10). Validation of Las Vegas basin response to the 1992 Little Skull Mtn. earthquake as predicted by physics-based Nevada ShakeZoning computations. Presentation at 2012 EGGE Conference. SCEC Contribution 1537
