Alan Kafka

My primary area of research covers a wide variety of topics in seismology, earthquake science, and related matters. I am also involved in research and teaching that covers broader realms of geoscience, as well as broader impacts of environmental systems and community science for the greater good, I have long been obsessed with the enigma of why earthquakes occur in the Eastern United States (EUS), deep in the interior of the North American plate. This interest in the mystery of why the Earth quakes in the EUS is part of my broader fascination with what can and can't be known from science.

I am married to Rabbi Randy Kafka, who shares my fascination with how the search for certainty in an uncertain world often leads people to seek answers to life’s mysteries in science, religion, or both. I teach geophysics at Boston College and conduct research in seismology at Weston Observatory, BC's geophysical research and science education center. This course is part of my personal mission to advance geophysics, earthquake science, environmental science, and community science for the greater good.

Click here to read At Work: Alan Kafka (A "Seismologists at Work" article published in 2019 by Seismological Society of America, describing my work as a seismologist up to the time of the COVID-19 pandemic).