[Geolalumni] Fwd: Two PhD positions in Active Tectonics/Earthquake Geology at the University of Southern California

[Liz Schermer]

Great opportunity if you want to get a PhD!


Liz Schermer
WWU Geology Department
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-650-3658

Begin forwarded message:

From: James Dolan <dolan at usc.edu>
Date: November 22, 2024 at 9:42:04 AM PST
To: GEO-TECTONICS at jiscmail.ac.uk
Subject: Two PhD positions in Active Tectonics/Earthquake Geology at the University of Southern California
Reply-To: Tectonics & structural geology discussion list <GEO-TECTONICS at jiscmail.ac.uk>


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Two Ph.D. Positions in Active Tectonics, Earthquake Geology, and Seismic Hazard Analysis – University of Southern California

Dear Prospective PhD students,

Do you want to do field work in beautiful mountain and desert scenery? Do you love tectonics and structural geology, but crave working on structures that might generate a large-magnitude earthquake sometime next Thursday (around noon)? Interested in understanding how faults and fault systems work and how plates really move past each other in time and space, and what all of that means? Then have I got a Ph.D. project for you!

Actually, I have two field-based Ph.D. positions in Active Tectonics and Earthquake Geology available at the University of Southern California. Both of these doctoral positions are focused on generating incremental fault slip rates and paleo-earthquake age and displacement data as part of a long-term effort to understand how relative plate motion is accommodated on complex plate-boundary fault systems at scales from individual earthquakes to a few hundreds of meters of relative plate motion. The research is inherently multidisciplinary, involving everything from hard-core, boots-on-the-ground field work, to analysis of lidar and satellite data, to collecting and preparing a variety of different types of geochonologic samples, to structural geology, tectonic geomorphology, paleoseismology, fluvial and alluvial sedimentology, seismic hazard analysis, and geodynamics at scales ranging from decadal geodetic measurements to million-year plate motions constrained by paleomagnetic data.

Earthquake Geology is fun, but it's the big picture that matters. Underlying everything my group does are twin foci – improving our ability to forecast seismic hazards, and generating the data necessary to develop a fuller understanding of how plates actually move, specifically trying to move beyond simplistic models that rely on notions of spatially and temporally constant strain accumulation and release. A newly established project working collaboratively with U.S. Geological Survey scientists focuses on implementing the lessons learned from earthquake geology into next-generation deformation models for use in future probabilistic seismic hazard assessments, including moving towards time-dependent models.

I’m looking for bright, curious, highly motivated students with excellent field and computer skills, a firm grounding in both structural geology and sedimentology/stratigraphy, an insatiable desire to understand how complex systems actually work, and (this last bit is exceedingly important) a good sense of humo(u)r. By that I mean someone who thinks my jokes are funny. My basic philosophy is that there’s no point in doing anything unless it is scientifically interesting, societally important, and fun.

If all that sounds good, I’m looking forward to hearing from you. The application deadline is January 5, 2025 for the Fall 2025 semester. However, an early start is possible if you’re interested, so please contact me as early in the process as you can. Fellow faculty, if you could pass this along to any of your senior undergraduates or MS students who might be interested, I would very much appreciate it.

Cheers,

James Dolan
Professor of Earth Sciences
University of Sothern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089
USA

Email: dolan at usc.edu<mailto:dolan at usc.edu>


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