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Jennifer Strauss

Scientific Liason

Berkeley Seismology Lab

Croudsourcing Earthquakes with MyShake

Technology

The MyShake app turns your smartphone into an earthquake sensor. By downloading the app, you are joining a global network of citizen scientists who are collecting valuable data and supporting the development of earthquake early warning systems. EEW can give people a few seconds notice that an earthquake has begun and the shaking is coming your way. You can use this information to get earthquake ready and help your community. You will have real-time earthquake information at your fingertips about earthquakes in your area and around the world. You can contribute to this information by sharing your experience in an earthquake and reporting damage so others can be aware. In this talk, I will outline the technology behind the app and how we are using the data.

Meet the Speaker:

Dr. Jennifer Strauss is scientific liaison for the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and the head of the Lab’s Earthquake Research Affiliate Program, which fosters interactions between academic researchers and external partners interested in earthquake information services, including earthquake early warning (EEW) and novel technologies for geophysical research. Strauss is also the Northern California Regional Coordinator and Vice Chair of the Joint Committee for Communication, Education, and Outreach for the ShakeAlert EEW system. Working with industry affiliates, legislators, and scientists on bringing an EEW system to the state of California, she routinely interfaces with emergency managers to build action plans and strategies for hazard mitigation given a small lead time for earthquake warning. She joined the lab in November 2012, after spending three years in the French Alps. She is a Physicist by training, with a research history in powder diffraction, x-ray crystallography, computer modeling, and ice sheet dynamics and radar altimetry studies on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. She has written publications and participated in many press interviews for print, radio, and TV science news—resulting in stories in Earth Magazine, Scientific American, SF Gate, Esquire, East Bay Express, Civil Engineering Magazine and appearances on ‘Faults and Seism’ Documentary MBC Korea, KIRO-TV Seattle, ABC7, CBC Canada, KRON 4, KQED, and KIQI.

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