Wall Faculty Associate Dinner Forum


Dear Wall Faculty Associates:

Please join us for this special Wall Associate dinner forum with talk by Wall Distinguished Visiting Professor, Barbara Romanowicz.

Giant earthquakes and tsunami: why, where and …how?
Earthquakes, big and small, along with volcanoes, manifest large scale dynamic processes within the earth’s interior, that drive the motions of tectonic plates at our planet’s surface. Understanding the physics of the rupture process of giant earthquakes, such as those that occur around the Pacific ring of fire, from its preparatory phase to its destructive effects, is a major science question with socio-economic implications. Owing to important efforts, in the last few decades, in the development of precise seismic and geodetic instrumentation and its deployment in targeted vulnerable zones, combined with the recent occurrence of  a series of huge earthquakes, a rich ensemble of data has been collected with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Together with the increase in computational power, this has led to major advances in the modelling of rupture initiation, propagation and arrest. This lecture will take you on a journey of recent observations and their impact on the understanding of why, where and how the largest earthquakes and resulting tsunami occur.

Barbara Romanowicz, is one of the most influential seismologists of her time. A professor at the University of California, Berkeley and chair of Physics of the Earth’s Interior at Collège de France, in Paris. Prof. Romanowicz early work on seismic tomography resulted in the first regional scale models of the mantle beneath North America. She was instrumental in the conception and development of GEOSCOPE, a worldwide network of seismological observatories from which high quality data are openly available. She has published more than 180 papers and has been honored by leading European and American geophysical organizations. Prof. Romanowicz is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Member of the National Academy of Sciences. The Seismological Society of America awarded Prof. Romanowicz its top honor, the Harry Fielding Reid Medal (2011) for her outstanding contributions in seismology and earthquake engineering.

Pre-dinner refreshments will be available at 6:00 pm. The talk will begin at 6:30 pm. A complimentary dinner will be served at 7:30 pm. 

You are welcome to bring a guest, but seating is limited. If you plan to attend, please register by Wednesday, January 16.