Current Students

Yue Du
Yue Du

 Committee: Shuo Ma (Chair, SDSU)

Andrea Fabbrizzi
Andrea Fabbrizzi

 Committee: Jillian Maloney (Chair, SDSU), Ross Parnell-Turner (UCSD), Thomas Rockwell (SDSU), Ignacio Sepulveda Oyarzun (SDSU), Jan Kleissl (UCSD)

James Futty wearing a purple shirt
James Futty

 Committee: Jillian Maloney (Chair, SDSU)

Ruei Jiun Hung
Ruei-Jiun (RJ) Hung

 Committee: Matt Weingarten (Chair, SDSU), Gabi Laske (UCSD), Shuo Ma (SDSU), John McCartney (UCSD), Ignacio Sepulveda (UCSD)

Anupam Patel wearing a blue plaid shirt
Anupam Patel        

Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU)

Ke Xu wearing a black suite and a blue tie
Ke Xu       

Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU)

Past Students

Riley Hill
Ryley Hill

PhD – December 2023: Physics-based hydrogeologic models of fluid-fault interactions: implications of natural and anthropogenic poroelastic effects on induced seismicity

Committee: Matt Weingarten (Chair, SDSU), Thomas Rockwell (SDSU), Yuri Fialko (UCSD), Xiaobai Liu (SDSU), Julian McAuley (UCSD)

Roslynn King
Roslynn King         

PhD – September 2022: Groundwater under the ocean floor, working from the known to the unknown

Committee:
Jillian Maloney (Chair, SDSU), Steven Constable (UCSD), Leonard Srnka (UCSD), Thomas Levy (UCSD), Hilary McMillian(UCSD)

Te-Yang wearing a black fleece and black rimmed glasses outside
Te-Yang Yeh

PhD – August 2022: Applications of high-frequency deterministic numerical simulations: Moving forward

Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU), Li-Tien Cheng (UCSD), Steven Day (SDSU), Peter Shearer (UCSD)
Samuel Shen (SDSU)

 

Zhifeng Hu

Zhifeng Hu

PhD – July 2021: Toward high-frequency deterministic simulations: source, path and site effects

Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU), Steven Day (SDSU), Peter Shearer (UCSD), Sam Shen (UCSD), Joel Conte (UCSD), Daniel Roten (SDSU)

Nan Wang
Nan Wang

PhD – March 2021: Enhancement and Validation of Ground Motion Simulations

Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU), Steven Day (SDSU), Peter Shearer (UCSD), Joel Conte (UCSD), Samuel Shen (SDSU)

  • Dr. Wang is now working in the financial sector in New York City, New York
  • Publication (accepted for publication) in Earthquake Spectra (2020), A Frequency-Dependent Ground-Motion Spatial Correlation Model of Within-Event Residuals for Fourier Amplitude Spectra
  • Publication in Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2019), Broadband Ground-Motion Simulation with Inter-Frequency Correlations
  • Recipient of 2019 SSA Annual Meeting Travel Grant
Drake Singelton
Drake Singleton

PhD – June 2020:Neotectonics in San Diego, California: Paleoseismology, Slip Rate, and Offshore Structure of the Rose Canyon Fault

Committee: Jillian Maloney (Chair, SDSU), Thomas Rockwell (SDSU), Ducan Agnew (UCSD), Trent Biggs (SDSU), Joel Conte (UCSD)

  • 2-year Mendenhall Fellowship at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA
  • Workshop Report: IODP workshop: Core-Log-Seismic Investigation at Sea – Integrating legacy data to address outstanding research question in the Nankai Trough Seisomgenic Zone Experiment
  • Publication: Late-Holocene Rupture History of the Rose Canyon Fault in Old Town, San Diego: Implications for cascading earthquakes on the Newport-Inglewoor-Rose Canyon Fault System (Bulletin of Seismological Society of America)
  • San Diego Union Tribune article covering active research
  • NBC article: Seismic Risk

Josh Kelly crop

Josh Kelly

PhD – March 2020:  Climate-driven coastal morphodynamics along Southeast Queensland, Australia

Committee: Allen Gontz (Chair, SDSU), Isaac Ullah (SDSU), Doug Stow (SDSU), David Sandwell (UCSD), Falko Kuester (UCSD), Jamie Shulmeister (University of Canterbury)

  • Assistant Professor – California State University, Los Angeles in The Department of Geosciences and Environment
       – $140k NASA Grant: Coastal Monitoring in the 21st Century: Advancements in Shoreline
          Mapping using smallsat Imagery and Machine Learning.
       – Juneau Icefield Project (summer 2021): Validating Glacial Facies Interpreted from SAR 
          Imagery using Field Measured Albedo
  • new publication: Using GPS-surveyed intertidal zones to determine the validity of shorelines automatically mapped by Landsat water intices
  • Grants and awards:
    2018 – ARCS Fellowship, AAPG Grad Research Grants in Aid, GSA Grad Research Grant

Yuval Levy

Yuval Levy

PhD – December 2019:  Structural Architecture of the Western Transverse Ranges and Potential for
Large Earthquakes
Committee: Tom Rockwell (Chair, SDSU), Trent Biggs (SDSU), Yuri Fialko (UCSD), Neal Driscoll (UCSD), Tara Hutchinson (UCSD)

  • Senior Staff Geophysicist at Geovision
  • 2018: Harold J. Funkhouser Memorial Grant from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation.
Yongfei Wang
Yongfei Wang

PhD – August 2019: Dynamic Modeling of Pulse-like earthquake and ground motion
Committee:
 Steven Day (co-chair, SDSU), Peter Shearer (co-chair, UCSD), Jiun-Shyah Chen     (UCSD), Yuri Fialko (UCSD), Kim Olsen (SDSU), Sam Shen (SDSU)

    • Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Paul G. Silver Research Enhancement Award 2016
 

William Savran

William Savran

PhD – December 2018: Developing Stochastic Models as Inputs for High-Frequency Ground Motion Simulations
Committee: Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU),
Steve Day (SDSU), Peter Shearer (UCSD), George, Christakos (SDSU), Enrique Luco (UCSD), Yifeng Cui (SDSU)

  • Software Engineer at Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
 

Qian Yao

Qian Yao

PhD – August 2017: Dynamic Modeling of Earthquake Sources on Rough Faults
Committee: Steven Day (Chair, SDSU), Joel Conte (UCSD), Yuri Fialko (UCSD), Shuo Ma (SDSU)
Samuel Shen (SDSU)

  • Data Scientist at Microsoft, Bellevue, Washington
 

Yuxiang Zhang

Yuxiang Zhang

PhD – June 2017: Parallel Goal-Oriented Adaptive Finite Element Modeling for 3D    Electromagnetic Exploration
Committee: Yuri Fialko (Chair, UCSD), Steve Day (SDSU), Michael Holst (UCSD), Kerry Key (UCSD), Samuel Shen (SDSU), Len Srnka (UCSD)

  • Data Scientist at Amazon, Seattle
Kyle Withers
Kyle Withers

PhD – August 2016: Ground Motion and Variability from 3-D Deterministic Broadband Simulations
Committee:
Kim Olsen (Chair, SDSU), Steven Day (SDSU), Peter Blomgren (SDSU), Peter Shearer (UCSD), Enrique Luco (UCSD), Yifeng Cui (UCSD)

  • Research Geophysicist at the Menlo Park, CO, office of USGS
  • 2-year Mendenhall Fellowship at the Golden, CO office of USGS
Evan Kirakawa Kim Olsen
Evan Hirakawa (right), Kim Olsen (left)
Evan Hirakawa

PhD – March 2016: Poro-Elasto-Plastic Off-Fault Response and Dynamics of Earthquake Faulting
Committee: Shuo Ma (Chair, SDSU), Steven Day (SDSU), David Sandwell  (UCSD)
Joel Conte (UCSD), Julios Valdes (SDSU)

  • Earthquake Science Center (ESC) Research Geophysicist at the Menlo Park, CO, office of USGS
  • Post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Chevron Scholarship – SDSU 2014/15

Peer-reviewed papers with involvement of current and/or past JDP students*

Hill, R.G., Weingarten, Mi., Rockwell, T.K et al. Major southern San Andreas earthquakes modulated by lake-filling events. Nature 618, 761-766 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06058-9.

Hu, Z.*, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2022). 0-5 Hz Deterministic 3D Ground Motion Simulations for the 2014 La Habra, CA, Earthquake, Geophys. Jour. Int. 230, 2162-2182.

Hu, Z.*, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2022). Calibration of the Near-surface Seismic Structure in the SCEC Community Velocity Model Version 4, Geophys. Jour. Int. 230, 2183-2198.

O’Reilly, O., T.-Y. Yeh*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Hu*, A. Breuer, D. Roten, and C. Goulet (2022). A high-order finite difference method on staggered curvilinear grids for seismic wave propagation applications with topography, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 112 (1), 3-22, https://doi.org/10.1785/0120210096.

Wang, N.*, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2021). A Frequency-Dependent Ground-Motion Spatial Correlation Model of Within-Event Residuals for Fourier Amplitude Spectra, Earthquake Spectra 112 (1), 3-22, DOI: 10.1177/8755293020981995.

Hu, Z.*, D. Roten, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2021). Modeling of Empirical Transfer Functions with 3D Velocity Structure, Bull Seis. Soc. Am. 111 (4), 2024-2056, https://doi.org/10.1785/0120200214.

Levy, Y.*, T. Rockwell, S. Minas, A. Hughes, and D. Rood (2021). Geologic Structure of the Sylmar Basin: Implications for Slip Distribution Along the Santa Susana/Hospital and Mission Hills Fault System in San Fernando Valley, CA, USA,  Front. Earth Sci. 8:560081. doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.560081.

O’Reilly, O., T.-Y. Yeh*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Hu*, A. Breuer, D. Roten, and C. Goulet (2021). A high-order finite difference method on staggered curvilinear grids for seismic wave propagation applications with topography, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., accepted for publication, July 10, 2021.

Hughes, A., R.E. Bell, Z.K. Mildon, D.H. Rood, A.C. Whittaker, T.K. Rockwell, Y. Levy*, D.E. DeVecchio, S.T. Marshall, C. Nicholson, 2020, Three-dimensional structure, ground rupture hazard, and static stress models for complex non-planar thrust faults in the Ventura basine, southern California. J. Geophys. Res., 2020. doi:10.1029/2020JB019539

Wang, N.*, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day. A Frequency-Dependent Ground-Motion Spatial Correlation Model of Within-Event Residuals for Fourier Amplitude Spectra, Earthquake Spectra. 2021;37(3):2041-2065. doi:10.1177/8755293020981995 

Wang, N.*, R. Takedatsu, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2019). Broadband Ground-Motion Simulation with Inter-Frequency Correlations, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am. 109, 2437-2446, doi:10.1785/0120190136.

Kelly, J.T.* and Gontz, A. (2020). Rapid Assessment of Shoreline Changes Induced by Tropical Cyclone Oma Using CubeSat Imagery in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Journal of Coastal Research: Volume 36, Issue 1: pp. 72-87.

Levy, Y.*, Rockwell T. K., Shaw J. H., Plesch A., Driscoll N. W. amd Perea H., Structural Modeling of the Western Transverse Ranges: An Imbricated Thrust Ramp Architecture. Submitted to Lithosphere 2019; 11 (6): 868-883. doi:10.1130/L1124.1

Savran, W.H.* and K.B. Olsen (2019). Ground motion simulation and validation of the 2008 Chino Hills earthquake in scattering media, Geophys. Jour. Int., in revision.

Singleton, D. M.*, Rockwell, T. K., Murbach, D., Murbach, M., Maloney, J. M., Freeman, T., & Levy, Y. (2019). Late‐Holocene Rupture History of the Rose Canyon Fault in Old Town, San Diego: Implications for Cascading Earthquakes on the Newport–Inglewood–Rose Canyon Fault System. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America109(3), 855-874.

Wang, Y.*, S.M. Day, and M. Denolle, Marine. (2019). Geometric Controls on Pulse-Like Rupture in a Dynamic Model of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 10.1029/2018JB016602.

Wang, N*., R. Takedatsu, K.B. Olsen, and S.M. Day (2019). Broadband Ground-Motion Simulation with Inter-Frequency Correlations, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., in revision.

Withers, K.W.*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Shi, and S.M. Day (2019). Ground Motion and Intra-event Variability from 3-D Deterministic Broadband (0-7.5 Hz) Simulations along a Non-planar Strike-slip Fault, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am. 109 212-228.

Withers, K.W.*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Shi, and S.M. Day (2019). Validation of Deterministic Broadband Ground Motion and Variability from Dynamic Rupture Simulations of Buried Thrust Earthquakes,  Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 109 229-250.

Hirakawa, E.*, and Ma, Shuo (2018). Undrained Gouge Plasicity Stabilizes Rupture Dynamics of Rough Faults. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 108, No. 6, pp. 3160-3168. doi: 10.1785.0120180002.

Hughes, A., Rood, D.H., Whittaker, A.C., Bell, R.E., Rockwell, T.K., Levy, Y.*, Wilcken, K.M., Corbett, L.B., Bierman, P.R., DeVecchio, D.E., Marshall, S.T., Gurrola, L.D., Nicholson, C., (2018). Geomorphic evidence for the geometry and slip rate of a young, low-angle thrust fault: Implications for hazard assessment and fault interaction in complex tectonic environments. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 504, 198–210.

Withers, K.W.*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Shi, and S.M. Day (2018b). Validation of Deterministic Broadband Ground Motion and Variability from Dynamic Rupture Simulations of Buried Thrust Earthquakes,  Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., in press.

Withers, K.W.*, K.B. Olsen, Z. Shi, and S.M. Day (2018a). Ground Motion and Intra-event Variability from 3-D Deterministic Broadband (0-7.5 Hz) Simulations along a Non-planar Strike-slip Fault, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., in press.

Kelly, J. T*. and Gontz, A., (2017), Using GPS-surveyed intertidal zones to determine the validity of shorelines automatically mapped by Landsat water indices. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, v. 65, p. 92-104, doi: 10.1016.

Nie, S., Wang, Y.*, Olsen, K. B., & Day, S. M. (2017). Fourth-Order Staggered Grid Finite Difference Seismic Wavefield Estimation Using a Discontinuous Mesh Interface (WEDMI). Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 107(5), 2183-2193.

Wang, Y.*, and S.M. Day, (2017). Seismic source spectral properties of crack like and pulse-like modes of dynamic rupture, J. Geophys. Res., doi: 10.01002/2017JB014454.

Hirakawa, E.*, Pitarka, A., and R. Mellors, (2016). Generation of Shear Motion from an Isotropic Explosion Source by Scattering in Heterogeneous Media. Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, doi: 10.1785/0120150243.

Hirakawa, E.*, and S. Ma (2016), Dynamic fault weakening and strengthening by gouge compaction and dilatancy in a fluid-saturated fault zone, J. Geophys. Res., 121, doi: 10.1002/2015JB012509.

Roten, D., Y. Cui, K.B. Olsen, S.M. Day, K. Withers*, W.H. Savran*, P. Wang, and D. Mu (2016). High-Frequency Nonlinear Earthquake Simulations on Petascale Heterogeneous Supercomputers,  Procs. Supercomputing Conference, Salt Lake City, November 2016

Savran, W.H.*, and K.B. Olsen (2016). Model for Small-Scale Crustal Heterogeneity in Los Angeles Basin Based on Inversion of Sonic Log Data, Geophys. Jour. Int. 205, 856-863

Haneberg, W. C., Kelly, J. T.*, Graves, H. L., and Dan, G. 2015. A GIS-based decision-support approach to deepwater drilling-hazard maps. The Leading Edge. v. 34(4), p. 398-404, doi: 10.1190/tle34040398.1.

Withers, K.B.*, K.B. Olsen and S.M. Day (2015). Memory Efficient Simulation of Frequency Dependent Q, Bull, Seis. Soc. Am. 105, 3129-3142, doi: 10.1785/0120150020

Kelly, J. T.*, Carey, S., Croff-Bell, K. L., Roman, C., Rosi, M., Marani, M., and Pistolesi, M. 2014. Exploration of the 1891 Foerstner submarine vent site (Pantelleria, Italy): insights into the formation of basaltic balloons. Bull. Volc. v. 76, p. 844-862, DOI: 10.1007/s00445-014-0844-4.

Cui, Y., E. Poyraz, K.B. Olsen, J. Zhou, K. Withers*, S. Callaghan, J. Larkin, C. Guest, D. Choi, A. Chourasia, Z. Shi, S.M. Day, J.P. Maechling, and T.H. Jordan (2013). Physics-based seismic hazard analysis on petascale heterogeneous supercomputers, Procs, Supercomputing Conference, 2013.

Ma, S., and E. T. Hirakawa* (2013), Dynamic wedge failure reveals anomalous energy radiation of shallow subduction earthquakes, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 375, 113 – 122, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.05.016