AGU Seismology Section News (April 2025)
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Introducing the New Seismology Leadership Team for 2025-2026
- Outstanding Student Presentation Awards - AGU24
- Honors and Volunteers
- Online Seminars - Live and Recordings
- AGU Seismology Early Career Team
- AGU Supporting Science - in the US and Globally
- Increase your involvement and Support for Seismology
- Seismometers recording hurricanes
(0) Introduction
Greetings from the new team at AGU Seismology! Read on to learn about who we are, what we are doing to support our members, and how AGU is working to be a strong, clear voice for Geoscience in very challenging time. Also, join us in congratulating our Outstanding Student presenters from AGU24, and find links to many excellent online research talks and seminars, free to all.
(1) Introducing the New Seismology Leadership Team for 2025-2026
President: Rachel Abercrombie (Boston University)
President-Elect: Ed Garnero (Arizona State University)
Past-President: Martha Savage (Victoria University of Wellington)
Secretary: Elizabeth Cochran (U.S. Geological Survey)
AGU Program Committee Seismology Chair: William Frank (MIT)
Student Representatives: Cindy Lim Shin Yee (Bristol University), Albert Kabanda (Northwestern University), Yifan Yu (Stanford University) and Richard Asirifi (Texas A&M University)
Early Career Representatives: Yijian Zhou (Caltech) and Thanushika Gunatilake (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Members of the team will be attending both the Annual Meeting of the Seismological Society of America, and the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union later this month where we look forward to meeting you, and joining you in supporting our fellow geoscience organizations.
Thank you to Martha for all your hard work leading us over the last two years as the Seismology Section President, and thank you also for your continuing advice and support as past-president.
Thank you to German Prieto for your service as Section Secretary, including the major role of leading the Seismology Outstanding Student Presentation Award judging at the AGU meetings.
Thank you to Heather Ford for leading the Seismology Program Committee and organizing such a super program for AGU24. And lastly, thank you to the student and early career representatives who are moving on, for all your hard work and support, in particular for the early career membership: Shihao Yuan, Taylor Tracey Kyryliuk (now Taylor Anne Peelar), Jing Ci Neo and Vivian Rosas.
(2) Outstanding Student Presentation Awards - AGU24
Congratulations to all the students who received OSPA awards from the Seismology Section. Thank you to everyone who helped with the reviewing and judging, providing the constructive feedback that our students so appreciate. Thank you especially to German Prieto and Monica Maceira who had the hard task of ensuring that all presentations were reviewed, and then assimilating the reviews and recommendations. Thank you also to our sponsors, Terēan and Nanometricswhose contributions to the Section enables us to give more of these awards to our deserving students. We plan to highlight the work of these students over the coming year on our social media channels. The video from our 2024 OSPA guidance workshop is available and our Student and Early Career Representatives are already planning to hold this new event again in the run up to AGU25.
Award Winners
Jensen DeGrande
Presentation Title: Validation of ShakeMaps created using GNSS velocities
William Eaton
Presentation Title: Sensitivity of prompt elasto-gravitational signals to 3D structure: implications for earthquake early-warning.
Tom Gabrieli
Presentation Title: The dynamic effect of fault bends on shear ruptures: direct experimental observations
Zoe Gong
Presentation Title: Correlating 2022 Microseismicity and High-Temperature Vent Fluid Time-Series Data at the East Pacific Rise 9°50'N
Minzhe Hu
Presentation Title: DASPy: A Python Toolbox for DAS Seismology
Maleen Kidiwela
Presentation Title: Long-Term Signatures of Interseismic Deformation within Cascadia Subduction Zone Using Ambient Noise Interferometry
Evan Marschall
Presentation Title: Effects of Inelastic Yielding on Rupture and Tsunamigenesis in the Western Sea of Marmara.
Ian Vandevert
Presentation Title: Using a Simple High- to Low-Frequency Spectral Ratio to Distinguish Spatial Variations in Earthquake Source Properties
Elizabeth Vinarski
Presentation Title: Initial Wavespeed Images of Kīlauea Based on the Analysis of Passive Seismic Data Recorded by the 2023 Kīlauea Summit Experiment
Jiayi Ye
Presentation Title: Back-propagating seismic rupture and re-rupture controlled by fault hydromechanics
Zaccaria El Yousfi
Presentation Title: Insights on along-dip fault transition rheology through low-frequency earthquakes clustering
Your company or Institution can also help students, with donations going directly to support student scholarships and student/early career activities at AGU Meetings, including the OSPA. We are in the process of reaching out to possible sponsors for 2025, and grateful to those who have already expressed interest. Email Martha.Savage@vuw.ac.nz for more information.
(3) Honors and Volunteers
A very special and sincere thanks to ALL the many members of the Seismology Section who have served as volunteers on AGU Committees, for this section, and others. Thank you to those who are rotating off committees after multiple years of dedicated service, and thank you to the new people stepping up. All the activities of the Section and the AGU as a whole would be impossible without you. During challenging times, it has been really heartwarming to receive so many positive responses to my invitation emails, and see the willingness of so many to support our scientific community and the early career folk in particular. Thank you!
(4) Online Seminars – Live and Recordings
Over the last few years, the number of easily accessible (live or recorded) seminars available to us has increased and it can be hard to keep track of what is available. Below we highlight some series we know about. Please let us know if there are others we can include in future Newsletters. Thank you to all the people who organize these events and then save the recordings for the benefit of the greater community. Watching them alone is useful, but joining as a group (or watch-party) can be even better – you can always pause a recording to discuss.
(5) AGU Seismology Early Career Team
We are thrilled to announce that our Seismology Section Early Career team is expanding. We had such a great response to our request for volunteers that we are forming sub-committees to be able to broaden and deepen our support for our early career members. The team is led by Yijian Zhou (post-doctoral fellow at Caltech), Cindy Lim Shim Yee (PhD student at Bristol University, UK), Albert Kabanda (PhD student at Northwestern University), and Thanushika Gunatilake (Assistant Prof. at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), joined this year by new members Richard Asirifi (PhD student at Texas A&M University) and Yifan Yu (Stanford University).
Be on the lookout for information about the “Faultless Friendships network” as well as plans for events at (and before) AGU25 in New Orleans.
(6) AGU Supporting Science – in the US and Globally
As many of us are only too aware, it has been a challenging start to the year for scientists, including seismologists, in the USA, and also elsewhere. Rachel and Ed were recently at AGU HQ with the other section leaders, for the spring AGU Council Meeting. We were able to experience firsthand the hard work and dedication of the AGU leadership as they work to support our members’ interests and the values and mission of the Union. The AGU is a nonpartisan organization, and represents members with diverse views, but we are united in our belief that good science is essential for successful society. To support those affected during this challenging time, this resources, information and actions page, includes a way to apply for a hardship waiver for 2025 AGU membership dues and abstract submission. AGU is working with members to create additional resources that meet the needs of the moment.
Some recent posts from AGU’s CEO include:
- March 5 – Announcing that AGU is joining a lawsuit in support of federal workers.
- March 5 – What we didn’t hear in President Trump’s joint address to Congress.
- February 18 – Reiterating the grave impacts to climate action, geohealth and scientific innovations. Issuing our action alert for members to contact their congressional, state and local representatives to demand funding for science.
- February 14 – Insisting on support for the federal scientific workforce and expressing alarm at the breadth of actions to dismantle the scientific enterprise.
- February 3 – A call for your personal stories of impact to share with members of Congress and their staff, a call for solidarity supporting our federal scientists.
- January 27 – Confirming our commitment to our strategic plan, inclusivity, fairness and equal opportunity to build the strongest possible culture of science.
If you are in the USA, then I strongly encourage you to sign up for the AGU Science Policy Alerts, enabling you to easily let your representatives (whether you are a citizen or not, they should listen and represent your views) know your position on topical science issues.
See here for further information.
(7) Increase your involvement and Support for Seismology
We are always looking for volunteers at all career levels; if you would like to get more involved with the Seismology section, please contact any of the section officers or student members. Also, every member can donate when they join, renew their membership, register for a meeting, or at any time in between. You can choose whether your donations go to the Section where they directly support our student and early career activities. If 5% or more of the Seismology section members each donate $50 or more, AGU will give an additional $1000 to the section for student activities to use for next year’s AGU. Together we can increase our support for our science, and our members and ensure a strong workforce for the future.
Also – don’t forget – our AGU Program Committee is looking forward to receiving your proposals for Special Sessions at AGU25. This is a great way to ensure that there are presentations on your favorite subject. Proposals from members at all career levels are welcome, and those from convenors with a mix of experience often work very well.
Best regards,
Rachel Abercrombie
AGU Seismology Section President
Ed Garnero
AGU Seismology Section President-Elect
Martha Savage
AGU Seismology Section Past President
Elizabeth Cochran
AGU Seismology Section Secretary
William Frank
Annual Meeting Program Committee Chair
Yijian Zhou, Thanushika Gunatilake
Early-Career Member and Communications Specialists
Cindy Lim Shin Yee, Albert Kabanda, Yifan Yu and Richard Asirifi
Student Members of Seismology Section Executive Committee
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