<![CDATA[EAS Planetary & Astrobiology Seminar - Dr. Thomas González Roberts]]>36678 As activity on the Moon accelerates, a central challenge is emerging: how to enable safe and efficient operations without locking in inequitable access to scarce and high-value resources. Proposed mechanisms such as “safety zones” are intended to prevent harmful interference between missions while also serving multiple purposes, including the protection of scientific research areas, preservation of unique or sensitive environments, coordination of infrastructure, and mitigation of operational risks. However, their real-world implications remain poorly understood. This talk examines how different approaches to defining and implementing safety zones—varying in size, geometry, and duration—shape outcomes on the lunar surface, drawing on simulation-based research that models multi-actor competition for limited resources. The results highlight a core tension: policies designed to ensure safety and protect scientific activity can unintentionally create exclusion, inefficiency, and long-term inequities, particularly by reinforcing first-mover advantages. The discussion also introduces emerging methods for evaluating these dynamics through scenario design and tabletop exercises, which allow stakeholders to explore the consequences of governance choices in advance, with the aim of informing more coordinated, efficient, and equitable approaches to lunar development.
*Refreshments: 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM (ES&T L1175)
]]> tbuchanan9117768597362026-04-22 12:08:5617768603402026-04-22 12:19:0000eventAs activity on the Moon accelerates, a central challenge is emerging: how to enable safe and efficient operations without locking in inequitable access to scarce and high-value resources. Proposed mechanisms such as “safety zones” are intended to prevent harmful interference between missions while also serving multiple purposes, including the protection of scientific research areas, preservation of unique or sensitive environments, coordination of infrastructure, and mitigation of operational risks. However, their real-world implications remain poorly understood. This talk examines how different approaches to defining and implementing safety zones—varying in size, geometry, and duration—shape outcomes on the lunar surface, drawing on simulation-based research that models multi-actor competition for limited resources. The results highlight a core tension: policies designed to ensure safety and protect scientific activity can unintentionally create exclusion, inefficiency, and long-term inequities, particularly by reinforcing first-mover advantages. The discussion also introduces emerging methods for evaluating these dynamics through scenario design and tabletop exercises, which allow stakeholders to explore the consequences of governance choices in advance, with the aim of informing more coordinated, efficient, and equitable approaches to lunar development.
*Refreshments: 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM (ES&T L1175)
]]>2026-04-24T11:00:00-04:002026-04-24T12:00:00-04:002026-04-24T12:00:00-04:002026-04-24 15:00:002026-04-24 16:00:002026-04-24 16:00:002026-04-24T11:00:00-04:002026-04-24T12:00:00-04:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime2026-04-24 11:00:002026-04-24 12:00:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime<![CDATA[]]>680023680023image<![CDATA[Robert Headshot]]>image/jpeg17768600932026-04-22 12:14:5317768600932026-04-22 12:14:53<![CDATA[EAS Seminar Series - Dr. Rachel Abercrombie]]>36678 Small earthquakes contain a wealth of information about active structures, and the state of stress in the earth, not least because they are so numerous. The stress release (or stress drop) during an earthquake provides fundamental information about the energy budget, and the slip and area of rupture, which are needed to investigate earthquake triggering and rupture dynamics. Stress drop is also an important element of seismic hazard forecasting since high stress drop earthquakes radiate more high frequency energy, resulting in stronger ground shaking. However, in practice stress drop has proved notoriously hard to measure reliably. Estimates by different researchers, using different methods or datasets, have yielded highly inconsistent values. This wide scatter masks physical trends (such as depth, mechanism, regional variation, or dependence on fault heterogeneity) that may identify the factors governing earthquake rupture.
I will discuss recent work by myself and others focused on improving stress drop estimates, and investigating the uncertainties resulting from modelling assumptions and the ambiguity of separating source and path effects in recorded seismograms. A consistent observation is that there is more small-scale spatial variability and complexity within one individual sequence, than there is between earthquakes in different tectonic settings.
*Refreshments: 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM (Atrium)
]]> tbuchanan9117732317512026-03-11 12:22:3117761841292026-04-14 16:28:4900eventSmall earthquakes contain a wealth of information about active structures, and the state of stress in the earth, not least because they are so numerous. The stress release (or stress drop) during an earthquake provides fundamental information about the energy budget, and the slip and area of rupture, which are needed to investigate earthquake triggering and rupture dynamics. Stress drop is also an important element of seismic hazard forecasting since high stress drop earthquakes radiate more high frequency energy, resulting in stronger ground shaking. However, in practice stress drop has proved notoriously hard to measure reliably. Estimates by different researchers, using different methods or datasets, have yielded highly inconsistent values. This wide scatter masks physical trends (such as depth, mechanism, regional variation, or dependence on fault heterogeneity) that may identify the factors governing earthquake rupture.
I will discuss recent work by myself and others focused on improving stress drop estimates, and investigating the uncertainties resulting from modelling assumptions and the ambiguity of separating source and path effects in recorded seismograms. A consistent observation is that there is more small-scale spatial variability and complexity within one individual sequence, than there is between earthquakes in different tectonic settings.
*Refreshments: 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM (Atrium)
]]>2026-04-23T11:00:00-04:002026-04-23T12:00:00-04:002026-04-23T12:00:00-04:002026-04-23 15:00:002026-04-23 16:00:002026-04-23 16:00:002026-04-23T11:00:00-04:002026-04-23T12:00:00-04:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime2026-04-23 11:00:002026-04-23 12:00:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime<![CDATA[]]>679944679944image<![CDATA[Ambercombie Headshot]]>image/jpeg17761819132026-04-14 15:51:5317761819132026-04-14 15:51:53<![CDATA[]]><![CDATA[EAS 2026 Clough Seminar by Climate Scientist and Author Kate Marvel, Ph.D.]]>36678 How can we best talk to one another about global warming? Climate scientist Kate Marvel, Ph.D. studies the physics of the planet using computational models. But climate change isn't just happening on a computer – it's happening here, in the real world, to us. And even a scientist like Marvel can't help but have feelings about that. Join her as she explores climate science and solutions through the lens of different emotions, from wonder, to anger and fear, and finally to hope. And hear her discuss how we don't need to choose between the hard facts that help us understand climate change and the feelings that help us communicate about it. By embracing both, we gain a fuller picture of what we stand to lose – and all there might be to hope for on a rapidly warming planet.
Book giveaway and refreshments from 6:00–6:25 PM for the first 100 students: Dr. Kate Marvel’s Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet.
*Refreshments: 7:30-8:30 PM (East Arch Courtyard)
]]> tbuchanan9117701349682026-02-03 16:09:2817760985462026-04-13 16:42:2600eventHow can we best talk to one another about global warming? Climate scientist Kate Marvel, Ph.D. studies the physics of the planet using computational models. But climate change isn't just happening on a computer – it's happening here, in the real world, to us. And even a scientist like Marvel can't help but have feelings about that. Join her as she explores climate science and solutions through the lens of different emotions, from wonder, to anger and fear, and finally to hope. And hear her discuss how we don't need to choose between the hard facts that help us understand climate change and the feelings that help us communicate about it. By embracing both, we gain a fuller picture of what we stand to lose – and all there might be to hope for on a rapidly warming planet.
Book giveaway and refreshments from 6:00–6:25 PM for the first 100 students: Dr. Kate Marvel’s Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet.
*Refreshments: 7:30-8:30 PM (East Arch Courtyard)
]]>2026-04-29T18:00:00-04:002026-04-29T20:30:00-04:002026-04-29T20:30:00-04:002026-04-29 22:00:002026-04-30 00:30:002026-04-30 00:30:002026-04-29T18:00:00-04:002026-04-29T20:30:00-04:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime2026-04-29 06:00:002026-04-29 08:30:00America/New_YorkAmerica/New_Yorkdatetime<![CDATA[]]>679176679175679176image<![CDATA[Marvel's Headshot]]>image/jpeg17701379682026-02-03 16:59:2817701379682026-02-03 16:59:28679175image<![CDATA[Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet]]>image/jpeg17701378552026-02-03 16:57:3517701378552026-02-03 16:57:35<![CDATA[Profile - Kate Marvel, Ph.D.]]><![CDATA[Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet]]>