Newsletters Archive

February 2017

1. 2016 Outstanding Student Paper Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners of Outstanding Student Paper Awards (OSPA) from the 2016 Fall Meeting! This year’s winners from the Seismology section are:

  • Michael Afanasiev (ETH Zurich)
  • Yaochieh Chen (National Taiwan Normal University)
  • Wenyuan Fan (University of California, San Diego)
  • Dara Goldberg (University of California, San Diego)
  • Kenneth Hudson (University of California, Santa Barbara)
  • Andrew Lloyd (Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Kathryn Materna (University of California, Berkeley)
  • Yajun Peng (Princeton University)
  • Lukas Preiswerk (ETH Zurich)
  • Kathrin Spieker (University of Bergen)
  • Ruijia Wang (University of Alberta)

Many thanks to all the section members who judged student presentations and to last year’s section secretary, Miaki Iishi, and Eric Kiser for coordinating the judging.

2. Upcoming Meetings & Deadlines

3. AGU Donor Incentive Program

AGU is piloting a donor incentive program that would provide additional unrestricted funding to the Seismology section if we reach 5% of our section members contributing $50 or more. The percentages increase as follows:

  • 5% participation = $1000 contribution from AGU to Seismology
  • 7% participation = $2000 contribution from AGU to Seismology
  • 10% participation = $3000 contribution from AGU to Seismology
  • 12% participation = $4000 contribution from AGU to Seismology
  • >15% participation = $5000 contribution from AGU to Seismology

Seismology was just below the 5% threshold last year, so an increase in members making donations would take us past the first threshold. This year we have used donations for the joint reception with Tectonophysics (note that getting a larger room is a priority) and increasing the OSPA prize for each section to $200. Additional donations could be used to improve the reception and increase the prizes (we still lag other sections and focus groups in that regard). Perhaps you have other ideas, if so, we’d love to hear from you.

4. 2017 AGU Honors Nominations

There are many great seismologists who deserve recognition, so we encourage all our members to think about nominations. No one gets an award without a nomination!

Union Fellows

Nominations for 2017 Fellows can be submitted via the AGU website until March 15. Nominations will first be reviewed by the Fellows Committee for each section. Section recommendations are then sent to the Union Fellows Committee, who will make the final determination. The 2017 Seismology section Fellows Committee members are Martha Savage (chair), Anne Sheehan, Geoff Abers, Satish Singh, Sue Hough, Miaki Iishi, and Mike Kendall.

Union Medals, Awards and Prizes

Union medals, awards and prizes that are often of interest to seismologists include the Macelwane, Lehman, Bucher, Bowie, Ewing, and Hess medals and the Smith, Ambassador, Flinn, International, and Excellence in Geophysical Education awards. We also encourage you to consider nominating colleagues for other medals and awards. Nominations for Union medals, awards and prizes are not reviewed at the section level. Nominations should be submitted through the AGU website by March 15.

Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award

The Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award recognizes the scientific accomplishments of young scientists in the field of seismology. Nominees for this award in 2017 should have obtained their Ph.D. during 2014–2016 and should be a member of AGU with a primary affiliation in the Seismology section. Please submit nominations by April 15 through the AGU website. The award will be presented at the 2017 Fall Meeting just prior to the Gutenberg Lecture. The 2017 Aki Award Committee members are Donna Shillington (chair), German Prieto, Andreas Fichtner, Eliza Richardson, Victor Tsai, and Vera Schulte-Pelkum.

Paul G. Silver Award for Outstanding Scientific Service

The Paul G. Silver Award for Outstanding Scientific Service is given annually to an AGU member with a primary affiliation in the Seismology, Geodesy, or Tectonophysics sections who has excelled in mentoring of junior colleagues or in leadership of community research initiatives, or other forms of unselfish collaboration in research. Nominations should be submitted by April 15 through the AGU website. The selection committee for this award is made up of the Seismology, Geodesy, and Tectonophysics section presidents and presidents-elect.

Beno Gutenberg Lecture

The Beno Gutenberg Lecture is the named lecture in seismology given annually at the Fall Meeting. This is an opportunity for us to show exciting results from seismological research to the larger AGU community. Please submit suggestions for the 2017 Gutenberg Lecturer by April 15 to committee chair Maureen Long; a one-paragraph nomination would be fine. The 2017 Gutenberg Lecture Committee members are Maureen Long (chair), Yoshio Fukao, Eleonore Stuzmann, Doug Wiens, Emily Brodsky, and Cliff Thurber.

Seismology Honors Canvassing Committee

The charge of the Seismology Section Honors Canvassing Committee is to encourage nominations of outstanding members of the Seismology section for AGU awards at the Union and section levels. The committee is taking a comprehensive look at potential nominees across the section, including international members, women, and other underrepresented groups. The 2017 Honors Nominating Committee members are Bill Ellsworth (chair), Suzanne Carbotte, Susan Beck, Joan Gomberg, and Rainer Kind.

AGU Conflict of Interest Policy

Under AGU’s conflict of interest policy for its honors program, members of the selection committee for a given honor are not eligible to nominate, write a supporting letter, or be nominated for that honor. The policy also includes guidelines for nominations of former graduate advisors, graduate advisees, and postdocs.

We look forward to your nominations!

Best regards,

Doug Wiens, President

Eliza Richardson, Secretary

Anne Sheehan, President-elect

Greg Beroza, Past President

Celia Eddy, Student Representative

Section Resources