Center For Earthquake Research and Information

The University of Memphis


Whats New?

🌋 I have been selected for an NSF Research Internship at Verisk/AIR Worldwide in Boston in the Summer of 2024! 

🌋 Earthquake Physics Group at CERI helped build the Community Raspberry Shake Network Around Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador read our blog here


Seismicity distribution from 2008 Okmok volcano eruption, Alaska [catalog: Garza-Girón et al. 2023]

Seismicity distribution from 2018 Kilauea volcano eruption, Hawaii [catalog: USGS]

Research Updates

I am a Ph.D. candidate at CERI, The University of Memphis. I am interested in seismic source parameters and induced seismicity. Currently, I am working on the Volcano seismicity of Hawaiian and Auletian Island Volcanoes and trying to classify different types of volcano seismicity, e.g., Volcano Tectonic, Long Period, and Tremors, using the spectral and temporal features of the seismic waveforms. Classification using standard and machine learning algorithms are commonly based on features selected in the time and frequency domain. Such features include, for example, dominant frequency band, power spectral density, energy ratios, duration, peak amplitude, and rate of amplitude decay.

Here, we analyze seismicity associated with major eruptive phases of the Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, and Okmok volcano and Akutan volcano, Alaska. Cyclical pressure variation due to recurring inflation and deflation during caldera collapse is likely to influence the associated seismicity. We are motivated to understand how the caldera collapse sequence and the eruption phases influenced the types of seismic events.

I am involved in another project for Volcano Seismicity analysis in Santa Ana volcano, El Salvador. Earthquake Physics Group, led by Dr. Thomas Goebel installed seismometers in Santa Ana volcano in El Salvador as a part of CERI outreach program by collaborating with a few students and faculties from University of El Salvador in Fall 2023. Now we are creating a seismicity catalog for El Salvador. I am responsible for detecting earthquakes from continuous real time waveforms, picking the phases and contributing to the catalog. I am also working on velocity inversion and event location from the detected earthquake catalog for Santa Ana. 

Check out this blog about our seismicity monitoring in Santa Ana, El Salvador

Community Seismic Network in Santa Ana volcano, El Salvador 


I also helped out on a project for dynamically triggered earthquakes and their relation to fluid injection in the Central United States. We tried to identify the dynamically triggered events in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and understand how dynamic triggering behaves along NMSZ compared to the dynamically triggered seismicity of Oklahoma. My responsibility for this project was to help out with the waveform analysis for detecting triggered events by large earthquakes, magnitude >= 7Mw. The preliminary research updates were presented at AGU Fall Meeting 2023. AGU 2023 Presentation 


My undergrad and master's degree are in Disaster Science and Management. Previously, I worked on hazard assessment and risk analysis. 


Past Activities:

Abstract: AGU21 Abstract 


Summer 2024 Internship:

During my internship, I was involved in Hawaii Hazard Modelling study. I worked on estimating the background seismicity rate, by doing catalog declustering. My study also involved comparing the performance of different declustering techniques (e.g., Nearest Neighbor, Reasenberg 1985) on available historical catalogs of Hawaii. Now I am trying to understand the performance of different declustering techniques on synthetic catalogs.


Boston interns with President Lee Shavel

Interns with their group managers

Earthquake Hazard Team at Verisk

Fun Field Works:

Bombay Beach with team lead Dr. Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos & Dr. Thomas H. Goebel, CERI, UofM

Box Canyon

Punchbowl Fault Outcrop

Dr. Randy Cox showing us the New Madrid Fault outcrop

Strike Measurement

EPG group to collect fault gouch from New Madrid Fault outcrop

Basalt Dome

Group photo with group lead Michael Poland, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

Neotectonic feature observation at Northern Springerville