Since graduating from the California Institute of Technology and moving to the University of Oregon in 1985, Gene has been studying the nature and causes of western U.S. tectonics and magmatism. His main approach is to model the distortion of teleseismic waves as they propagate upward through the North American continent, to resolve the lithospheric structure. He has been involved in many regional deployments of seismometers, and his research incorporates data recorded by EarthScope's continental-scale USArray. To account for tectonic and magmatic activity, Gene synthesizes seismic results with geologic information and geodynamic modeling to resolve the force and temperature evolution of the western U.S. Recently he has begun a collaborative seismic and geodynamic study of the westernmost Mediterranean region, where similar lithospheric processes occur.

Bob Smith's research interests are in seismology, tectonophysics, crustal deformation using GPS and active tectonics. His current research projects include: 1) geodynamics and evolution of the Yellowstone hotspot; 2) seismicity and volcanic hazards of Yellowstone and operation of the Yellowstone seismograph network; and 3) crustal deformation and earthquake hazards of extensional tectonic regimes including the Wasatch and Teton faults using GPS and fault modeling. His teaching includes tectonophysics and elastic waves, theoretical seismology, earthquake seismology and earthquake hazards, and introductory earthquakes and volcanoes.

Emily Brodsky has a B.A. degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. Her research interests include the physics of earthquake and volcanic eruptions by using fluid dynamics to formulate new interpretations of seismic and other geophysical data. She focuses on three general areas: earthquake triggering, friction, and co-eruptive seismic studies.

After receiving his PhD in Geophysics from Stanford University in 1975, Mark Zoback was a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey and, from 1981-1984, Chief of the Branch of Tectonophysics. He has been a Professor of Geophysics at Stanford since 1984. His principal research interests are related to quantifying the forces that act within the earth's crust and their influence on plate tectonics, earthquake mechanics and geomechanical processes affecting oil and gas exploration and production and CO2 sequestration. He was the co-Principal Investigator of the SAFOD project, an NSF-funded research project to drill, test and sample an actively deforming segment of the San Andreas Fault at seismogenic depth. He has authored, or co-authored, approximately 250 technical papers and one book (Reservoir Geomechanics, published in 2007 by Cambridge University Press). In 2006 Dr. Zoback was the recipient of the Emil Wiechert Medal of the German Geophysical Society and the co-recipient of the New Zealand Geophysics Prize. In 2008 was awarded the Walter Bucher Medal of the American Geophysical Union for original contributions to the basic knowledge of Earth's crust.

J Ramon Arrowsmith conducts research in active tectonics, quantitative structural geology and geomorphology. These topics include paleoseismology; earthquake geology; theoretical studies of faulting and hillslope development; and Quaternary Geology and desert surface processes. Active areas of geographic concentration include Arizona, the San Andreas Fault system, central Asia, Xinjiang China, Baja California, and the Afar region of Ethiopia (for the geologic context of paleoanthropologic studies). He also develops geoinformatics tools for cyberinfrastructure in the geosciences emphasizing high-resolution topography derived from LiDAR technology.