Yehuda Ben-Zion

Curriculum Vitae (.pdf)

Education:

B.Sc. Geology and Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (October 1982)
Ph.D. Geophysics and Seismology, University of Southern California (August 1990)

Present Positions:

Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California
Director of the Statewide California Earthquake Center (SCEC)

Professional Experience:

Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 2001 – 2004
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 1997 – 2000
Research Associate of Geophysics, Harvard University, 1994 – 1995
Post-Doctoral fellow, Harvard University (with Prof. J. R. Rice), 1991 – 1993
Research Assistant, University of Southern California (with Prof. K. Aki), 1985 – 1990

Visiting Positions:

Visiting Professor, Tokyo College, Japan, 2022
Visiting Professor, Rice University, 2017-2020
Visiting Professor, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, 2018
Visiting Professor, IPGP, Université Paris, Paris, France, 2018
Visiting Professor, University of Science and Technology, China, 2018
Visiting Professor, University of Oslo, Norway, 2017-2018
Visiting Professor, University Grenoble Alpes, France, 2017
Visiting Professor, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, 2011, 2014
Visiting Professor, GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany, 2011-2018
Visiting Professor, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 2010
Visiting Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany, 2003
Visiting Professor, The Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan, 1996
Visiting Research Associate, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1995

Research Interests:

Physics of earthquakes and faults, localization of deformation, high resolution imaging of fault zones and the crust, earthquake source properties, near-fault data, crustal stress and strain fields, composition of continuous seismic waveforms, temporal changes of seismic properties, dynamic ruptures in geologically relevant structures, brittle damage rheology, spatio-temporal seismicity patterns, earthquake forecasting, analysis of seismic hazard.

Classes Taught:

Processes and Changes in Science (CORE 103)
The Nature of Scientific Inquiry (MDA130)
Geo-Systems (GEOL450)
Modern Perspective on Crustal Dynamics (GEOL 530)
Physics of Earthquakes (GEOL 553)Advanced Seismology (GEOL 552)
Physics of Earthquakes Seminar (GEOL 609)
Seminar on Strain Localization (Geol599)

Awards, Honors and Fellowships:

  • Distinguished Sci. Seminar Series, Laurence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2023
  • Beno Gutenberg Medal, European Geosciences Union, 2022
  • Wiess Visiting Professor fellowship, Rice University, 2017-2020
  • Visiting Professor Fellowship, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, 2018
  • Visiting Professor fellowship, IPGP, Université Paris, Paris, France, 2018
  • Visiting Professor fellowship (under the High-end Foreign Experts Project, State administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, P.R. China), University of Science and Technology, China, 2017
  • Visiting Professor fellowship, University of Oslo, Norway, 2017-2018
  • Visiting Professor fellowship, University Grenoble Alpes, France, 2017
  • Humboldt Research Prize supplement, 2017
  • USC PhD mentoring award, 2016
  • Frontiers in Geosciences Lecture, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2013
  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2011
  • Humboldt Research Prize, 2010-2011
  • Gledden Senior Visiting Fellowship, Inst. of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia, 2010
  • Ranked 5th in total citations in a global survey of the ESI on “Earthquake Studies” for the period 2000-2010
  • Mercator Fellowship of the German Research Society (DFG), 2003
  • Ranked 4th in citations per paper and 15th in total citations in a global survey of the ESI on “Earthquake Studies” for 1993-2003
  • Zumberge Research and Innovation Fellowship, Univ. of Southern California, 1998
  • Visiting Professor Fellowship, Earthquake Research Inst., Univ. of Tokyo, 1996
  • Geophysics Graduate Student Achievement, Univ. of Southern California, 1989
  • W. M. Keck Foundation Fellowship, Univ. of Southern California, 1985-1988
  • Valedictorian, Natural Sciences Faculty, The Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem, 1982
  • Natural Sciences Dean’s Fellowship, The Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem, 1980-1982
  • In top 1% of most cited Geosciences authors in the Essential Science Indicators database for the last 10 years
  • Named by Research.com in top 300 scientists in Earth Science world-wide, 2023
  • Over 30 invited talks and keynote lectures in conferences, seminars and workshops in the last 3 years
  • Google h-index 84

Professional Service

  • SCEC director, 2019-present
  • EGU Beno Gutenberg Medal Committee, 2022-present
  • Leader, Seismology Group of SCEC, 2016-2018
  • Editor of J. Geophys. Res., 2015-2022
  • President, Mathematical Geophysics Committee of the IUGG, 2011-2019
  • Editor of Geophys. J. Int., 2005-2015
  • Guest Editor of Pure and Applied Geophys, various time intervals in 2002-2018
  • Site Visit Committee (University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2015
  • Site Visit Committee (University of Western Ontario, Canada), Natural Sciences
    and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2013
  • Co-organizer of a 2018 “International Induced Seismicity Workshop” in Banff, Canada
  • Co-organizer of a 2018 conference on Mathematical Geophysics, Nizhniy, Novgorod, Russia
  • Co-organizer of a 2017 workshop on “Frontiers in Studies of Earthquakes and
    Faults” in Shenzhen China
  • Co-organizer of a 2016 conference on Mathematical Geophysics, Paris, France
  • Co-organizer of a 2014 conference on Mathematical Geophysics, Merida, Mexico
  • Co-organizer of a 2013 workshop on “Properties and Processes of Crustal Fault Zones” in Erice Sicily
  • Co-organizer of a 2013 SAMSI workshop on “Dynamics of seismicity, earthquake clustering and patterns in fault networks”
  • Co-organizer of a 2013 BIRS workshop on “Statistics and Triggering of Earthquakes”
  • Co-organizer of a 2012 conference on Mathematical Geophysics, Edinburgh, UK
  • Co-organizer of over 30 special sessions in scientific meetings and workshops
  • Science Review Panel, Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast Project,
    2010-2016
  • Advisory Committee, The 8th Int. Workshop on Statistical Seismology, China 2013
  • IASPEI representative to the Math. Geophysics Committee of IUGG, 2002-2010
  • Review Panel of NASA, Cryosphere and Geophysics, 2010
  • Advisory Board, IUGG conference on Mathematical Geophysics, “Modeling Earth
    Dynamics: Complexity, Uncertainty and Validation”, Pisa Italy, 2010
  • Review Panel of NAS, USAID Middle East Regional Cooperation Program, 2008

Academic Advisement:

  • Total graduate students at USC (past and present) 28
  • Current PhD students at USC 4
  • Total post-doctoral scholars (past and present) 8
  • Current post-doctoral scholars at USC 1
  • Partial supervision of additional 12 students and 4 postdocs outside USC

Honors and Awards by Students:

  • Zhigang Peng, Outstanding Student Paper Award, American Geophysical Union meeting, 2002
  • Zhigang Peng, Departmental seminar UCLA, 2003
  • Michael Lewis, Outstanding Student Paper Award, Seismological Society of America meeting, 2005
  • Neta Wechsler, Outstanding Student Paper Award, American Geophysical Union meeting, 2007
  • Ory Dor, Invited Plenary talk, Annual meeting of the Southern California Earthquake Center, 2008
  • Iain Bailey, Outstanding Student Paper Award, Seismological Society of America meeting, 2008
  • Michael Lewis, Departmental seminar UCSD, 2009
  • Amir Allam, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2010, 2012
  • Zhigang Peng, Charles F. Richter Early Career Award of the Seismological Society of America, 2010
  • Amir Allam, Outstanding College and University TA Awards, 2013
  • Zach Ross, Departmental seminar UCLA, 2014
  • Yaman Ozakin, Seismology lab seminar, Caltech, 2014
  • Zach Ross, Seismology lab seminar, Caltech, 2015
  • Pieter-Ewald Share, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2014, 2015
  • Hongrui Qiu, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2015
  • Zach Ross, Departmental seminar UCSC, 2015
  • Niloufar Abolfathian, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2015
  • Pieter-Ewald Share, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2016
  • Zach Ross, USC PhD Achievement Award, 2016
  • Lei Qin, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2016
  • Haoran Meng, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2016
  • Hongrui Qiu, Outstanding Department TA Award, 2016
  • Niloufar Abolfathian, Outstanding Student Paper Award, Seismological Society of America meeting, 2017
  • Pieter-Ewald Share, Green postdoc fellowship (Scripps, UCSD), 2017
  • Hongrui Qiu, Seismo lab seminar Caltech, 2018
  • Zach Ross, Invited talk at the US Senate on behalf of the SSA, 2019
  • Zach Ross, Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award of the American Geophysical Union, 2019
  • Lei Qin, Seismo lab seminar Caltech, 2019
  • Zhigang Peng, Distinguished Service to SSA Award, 2020
  • Malcolm White, USGS Earthquake Science Center Seminar, 2020