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Susan L. Beck will help oversee four majors programs of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.

By University Communications
March 11, 2008

University of Arizona geosciences professor Susan L. Beck has been named chairwoman of the board of directors of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, the principal organization that gathers and distributes earthquake and related data.

The organization, known as IRIS, is a university research consortium dedicated to exploring the Earth's interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic data. It has 122 U.S. universities and 84 international universities as members.

IRIS programs contribute to scholarly research, education, earthquake hazard mitigation and the verification of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

As chairwoman, Beck will help oversee four major programs:

Data Management System

The IRIS Data Management Center receives earthquake and seismic data from a variety of data collection centers and is responsible for the long-term archiving and distribution of all IRIS-generated data. Data is made available online to seismologists around the world for earthquake research and hazard assessment.

Education and Outreach

The newest program at IRIS provides information, tools and resources to all levels of the educational community and the general public. In collaboration with the seismological and educational communities, this program develops and implements programs to enhance seismology and Earth science education for students of all ages.

Global Seismic Network

The Global Seismic Network, known as GSN, is responsible for deploying and maintaining permanent seismic recording stations around the globe and has a goal of establishing more than 128 stations distributed uniformly over the Earth's surface. The GSN provides funding to two network operators, the U.S. Geological Survey in Albuquerque, N.M., and Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.

Program for the Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL)

This program makes available more than 1,000 portable seismic instruments to the research community to record data from earthquakes in remote or poorly instrumented areas and from explosions or other manmade seismic events. PASSCAL is supported by an instrumentation center located at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, N.M., and has provided instruments to Beck for four major National Science Foundation grants.

Beck has served on panels or committees related to seismology for the Air Force Technical Applications Center, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.

She joined the UA department of geosciences in 1990 and served as department head from 2000 to 2007. Beck has broad research experience using earthquakes to understand mountain belts, faulting and Earth structure and is particularly interested in the evolution of the cordilleras of western North and South America, with much of her current research focused on the south-central Andes.

Her research also includes the study of subduction zones such as the one near Sumatra, which generated the great 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and strike-slip plate boundaries such as the North Anatolian fault south of Istanbul, Turkey, which can generate potentially devastating earthquakes in a highly populated region.