SCEC Internship Programs
SURE Intern Projects Summer 2014
Mentor(s): Sally McGill
- Geodetic Studies of the San Andreas fault, San Bernardino Mountains
I seek two interns to help with collecting GPS data from the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and vicinity. Dates of the 2014 internship can be either June 16-Aug 8 or June 23-Aug 15, though it is best if both interns choose the same date range. Interns will learn how to set up and operate geodetic-quality GPS antennae and receivers and will then travel as a pair to remote locations in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and vicinity to set up GPS equipment over existing benchmarks. This will often involve hiking several miles to reach remote benchmarks and may involve camping at less remote benchmarks in order to guard the equipment from theft. Interns will also help to train a large group of other undergraduate students and high school and middle school teachers in the use of the GPS equipment beginning on July 7. Data collection will be completed by around July 15, with the remaining 3-4 weeks of the internship available for modeling and interpreting the GPS site velocities in terms of fault slip rates and preparation of a research poster to present at the SCEC meeting in September.
Research Location: San Bernardino Mountains, California
Institution: California State University, San Bernardino
Number of Interns Needed: 2
Required Skills/Coursework: Trigonometry (pre-calculus) Map-reading and use of a compass Introductory Geology (especially plate tectonics)
Desirable Skills/Coursework: Structural Geology Tectonics
General Time Span: Either June 16 to August 8, 2014 or June 23 to August 15, 2014. It is best if both interns choose the same date range.
Mentor(s): Marine Denolle, Peter Shearer
- Bridging Seismic Networks through Time and Space
The threat of future large earthquakes compels the seismological community to understand better the likely ground motions that will result from earthquakes. Seismologists require detailed knowledge of crustal structure to accurately simulate the propagation of seismic waves. Traditional approaches rely on the occurrence of earthquakes to map the Earth’s subsurface, but these events are infrequent or absent in many regions. The ambient seismic field is recorded everywhere at all times and recent advances have shown how it can be used to improve our understanding of Earth’s structure. While these new methods usually rely on continuous and simultaneous recordings of ambient seismic noise, Ma and Beroza (2012) showed that we can bypass the condition of simultaneity using higher-order data processing. To improve our understanding of northern California crustal structure, this project targets large data sets collected at different times in the northern Sierra Nevada and Mendicino areas, and uses USArray stations to bridge both seismic networks. By using this new approach, the student will build a data base for ambient noise tomography, and construct new images of seismic wavespeed and attenuation in northern California.
Research Location: UCSD
Institution: Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD
Number of Interns Needed: 1
Required Skills/Coursework: Willingness to lear MATLAB and shell scripting
Desirable Skills/Coursework: intro to geophysics, intro to seismology, intro to scripting/computing
General Time Span:
Mentor(s): Gareth Funning (PI) and John Conrad (graduate student)
- Improving the density of GPS velocities in southern California by resurveying single occupation sites
The intern will lead a campaign of field GPS surveys in three areas in southern California where coverage of existing GPS velocity data is poor. We will target ‘single occupation sites’, i.e. sites where only a single GPS measurement has been made in the past, in three areas: (i) the Western Transverse Ranges near Ventura; (ii) the Elsinore fault in Orange County; and (iii) the northern Mojave desert. In each case, the additional data will enable us to place better constraints on the rates of fault motions in the region. In the course of the project, the intern will gain experience in fieldwork planning and data processing, and in the deployment of GPS equipment.
Research Location: Riverside, Orange County, Ventura County
Institution: University of California, Riverside
Number of Interns Needed: 1
Required Skills/Coursework: Valid driver's licence, ability to carry 30 pounds of equipment over short distances
Desirable Skills/Coursework: Familiarity with the Linux command line, familiarity with Google Earth, familiarity with the GAMIT/GLOBK GPS processing suite
General Time Span: May-August or June-September
Mentor(s): Bernadette Vargas (Etiwanda High School), Mark Kline (Banning High School), Sally McGill (CSU San Bernardino), and Robert de Groot (USC)
- InSight - Vital Signs of the Planet Program Internship
InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport) is a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars in 2016 to study its deep interior. The mission homepage is at: http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov
The Vital Signs intern will assist program leaders in the administration and implementation of the Vital Signs of the Planet program including:
- Assist with planning and facilitation of program activities in June, July, and September 2014.
- Participate in a 5-day field research component in partnership with California State University, San Bernardino using survey mode GPS to monitor tectonic deformation in Southern California.
- Present research findings at the SCEC Annual Meeting in Palm Springs, CA in September 2014
- Assist in the planning, coordination, and implementation a daylong InSight science workshop for Southern California science educators to be held at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands.
Research Location: Inland Empire Southern California
Institution: University of Southern California
Number of Interns Needed: 1
Required Skills/Coursework: - Mathematics through trigonometry - Introduction to Geology Course (Physical Geology) + Lab - Experience with survey-mode GPS research which includes setting up and troubleshooting equipment, data acquisition, and data analysis.
Desirable Skills/Coursework:
General Time Span: June 25 - July 25, 2014. There will be follow up activities on Sept 6 - 10 at the SCEC Annual Meeting. This is a 5-week full time internship (stipend $2500).
Mentor(s): Lucy Jones and Erin Burkett, USGS
- Fragility of concrete buildings
Older, taller concrete buildings have been some of the deadliest buildings in past earthquakes and are the target of moves to require retrofitting of dangerous structures. However, not all concrete buildings perform badly and it is a matter of debate what makes a concrete structure weak and how many concrete buildings are truly dangerous. No study has determined what percentage of concrete buildings are damaged or destroyed as a function of measured ground motions.
The NEES project has recently compiled a list of concrete buildings for the City of Los Angeles. Dr. Jones is working the the City this year and has a partnership with the Department of Building and Safety which has the records of buildings damaged in the Northridge earthquake and the USGS has a detailed map of the ground motions in that earthquake. These three datasets will be compared to determined the percentage of concrete buildings that were damaged at each shaking level.
Research Location: Los Angeles City Hall
Institution: United States Geological Survey
Number of Interns Needed: 2
Required Skills/Coursework: Basic physics and calculus Basic spreadsheet of GIS skills
Desirable Skills/Coursework: Seismology or Structural Engineering
General Time Span: June-August
