James Atterholt
I'm an observational seismologist interested in the multiscale structure of the Earth and the processes it hosts. A few questions motivate my work: What drives variability in the earthquake cycle? How is the surface of the Earth shaped by processes at depth? How can we better monitor and anticipate geohazards? To address them, I combine tools from applied mathematics with advances in instrumentation, particularly the repurposing of telecom fibers into dense sensing networks. The result is a view of the Earth at resolutions that were, until recently, out of reach. Before Arizona, I did my PhD at Caltech and a Mendenhall postdoc at the USGS. I'm always glad to hear from students who are curious about this kind of work.
Research Interests
Earthquake Dynamics, Crustal Structure, Near-Surface Processes, Fiber-Optic Sensing
Awards and Reconitions
- 2024 Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship