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August
 Comparison between measured and modeled postseismic deformation following the 2010, Mw 7.2, El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. Black vectors and colored circles respectively show horizontal and vertical displacements accumulated over one year following the earthquake measured from GPS. Green vectors and background shading respectively show horizontal and vertical displacements predicted from the model. The model simulates viscoelastic relaxation in the asthenosphere, which is uncommonly shallow in the Salton Trough due to the onset of extension and lithospheric thinning. Credit: Chris Rollins, Sylvain Barbot and Jean-Philippe Avouac, California Institute of Technology.
 International group of 30 students and teachers from China, England, and the US visit Caltech - They are attending a meeting of the "Multinational Youth Studying Practical Applications of Climatic Events (MYSPACE)", jointly hosted by Cal State LA and JPL. Grad student Jacob Hedelius gave a presentation on "Remote sensing of aerosol and gases in LA," staff scientist Coleen Roehl led a tour of the Linde-Robinson building, staff scientist Jamshid Hassanzadeh gave a presentation on "CO2 in Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and rocks: An environmental perspective," and Postdoctoral Scholar Melissa Rice gave a presentation on "Exploring Mars."
July
 Professor Jennifer Jackson's lab is hosting a high school teacher (Chuong Vu from Eleanor Roosevelt High School) and two high school students (Margaret Yu from Mark Keppel High School and Ed Guzman from Crescenta Valley High School) for five weeks of research - as part of Caltech's Summer Research Connection program. They are working in mineral physics, to increase our understanding of the interior of planets.
Twenty-nine students from China, in middle and high school, visit the TO and Seismo Lab - Margaret Vinci gave them a Seismo Lab tour, and postdoctoral Scholar Melissa Rice spoke to them about Exploring Mars
Grad student Erika Swanson leads faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts on a hike through Eaton Canyon - showing them geological features and hands-on activities they can use with their 4th and 5th grade students, as part of the Armory's Children Investigate the Environment program.
June
 Professor Victor Tsai inspires high school students to pursue science - by participating in a Speed Networking event held at Caltech. About 100 local high school students participated. Students met with a professor or engineer in groups of 10 for about 15 minutes, then switched to another professor.
7th graders from Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard visit Caltech - Graduate students Jen Hamon and Adam Subhas led lab tours and gave presentations on "The World's Oldest Jigsaw Puzzle" and "Dating Fossils with Mass Spectrometry"
Three Intel Science and Engineering Fair winners visit Caltech - As part of their three-day visit, the students met with GPS Division Professors Joann Stock, Mike Gurnis, John Eiler, and Victor Tsai; they also toured the Flume Lab with postdoc Jeff Prancevic and grad student Joel Scheingross
Grad student Steve Skinner visits St. Catherine Laboure School in Torrance - giving presentations on his recent field work in Antarctica to several classes in grades K-3
May
 John Galetzka gives public talk in Nepal on "Nepal: Japan-size earthquakes, Haiti-like infrastructure" - he included a discussion on the September 18, 2011 earthquake in the eastern part of Nepal
 Washington Middle School showcases students' project-based learning accomplishments with a "Pitch It Festival" - Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades gave sales "pitches" for their projects, which included solar-powered ovens, electric- and solar-powered cars, and clean air filters. Laurie Kovalenko served as one of the judges at the school's festival.
Sixth graders from Assumption School and from St. Juliana Falconieri School, as well as a 3rd grade Girl Scout troop from St. Mark's School, visit Caltech - Grad students Junle Jiang, Kristel Chanard, Renata Cumins, Kirsten Siebach, and Marion Thomas gave presentations on "Earthquakes," "Plate Tectonics Today," "What are Fossils Used For?," "Exploration of Mars," and "Why Study Geology?" Laurie Kovalenko led activities in electricity and magnetism and their relation to seismometers
April
Grad student Renata Cummins serves as judge at an Elementary Science Olympiad Tournament - the tournament was hosted by Pasadena Unified School District's after-school program, LEARNS, and included events such as "grab-a-gram" where students had to estimate the weight of an object, building bridges from spaghetti and clay, and a three-story egg drop
Grad student Ajay Limaye leads a Caltech Science Saturday - Ajay spoke on "Far From a Cold Case: Solving the Riddles of Ice on Planet Earth." Using ice cream and graham cracker crumbs, he demonstrated the formation of glacial landforms such as lateral and terminal moraines, till deformation, and a sub-glacial stream. More...
Caltech's Take Our Children to Work Day visits GPS - Liz Boyd led 4th graders in a rocks and minerals activity. Much thanks also goes to Mark Garcia, for preparing the rock samples.
Boy Scouts visit Caltech - Renata Cummins led the troop in a hands-on activity about continental drift, while Erin Burkett gave them a tour of the Seismo Lab
High school juniors from Med Tech Academy visit Caltech - Adam Booth talked about simulating real landslides with math and a computer, and Kirsten Siebach spoke about the exploration of Mars.
Graduate students Erika Swanson and Kirsten Siebach visit four 6th grade classes, at Eliot and Washington Middle Schools - Erika spoke to the classes about earthquakes - what causes them and how to prepare for them, while Kirsten spoke about Volcanoes, both on Earth and other planets
March
Graduate students Renata Cummins and Kirsten Siebach give presentations to visiting middle school students from the Blair LEARNS after-school program - Renata led hands-on activities on "Fossils! What they tell us about the Earth," and Kirsten gave a presentation on "What's so special about the Earth?"
Graduate student Nina Lin has been awarded a Li Ming Scholarship for the 2012 - 2013 academic year
Scientists Nina Lin, Kirsten Siebach, & Laurie Kovalenko lead presentations for visiting 4th graders from Hamilton Elementary School, with help from Renata Cummins, Chris Rollins, Jen Hamon, Christophe von Hagke, Ajay Limaye, & James Maloney - Nina led activities with "Rocks and Minerals," Kirsten gave a presentation on "Rock my World: the power of Volcanoes," and Laurie led activities on "Shocking Science: Static Electricity"
Graduate students Thomas Ader and Marion Thomas lead presentations for visiting 6th graders from Holy Angels School in Arcadia - They both led hands-on activities with an earthquake machine, Thomas presenting "When continents collide: working in the highest mountains of the world," and Marion "Why Study Geology?"
Grad student Caj Neubauer serves as science fair judge - at Pasadena Unified School District's district-wide science fair, held at JPL
February
Professor Joann Stock leads professional development workshop for science teachers - on "Plate Tectonics & the Geology of Southern California," organized by Sherry Tsai, Oak Crest Institute. Thirty-one teachers participated.
TO scientists serve as science fair judges - Professor Victor Tsai and outreach coordinator Laurie Kovalenko served as judges for Sierra Madre's 8th grade science fair.
Postdoc Katie Snell and grad student Janet Harvey visit 6th and 7th grade classes at Holy Redeemer School in Montrose - Katie gave a presentation to the 6th graders on "Mountain Building and Plate Tectonics," leading hands-on activities with play-doh, and Janet gave a presentation to the 7th graders on "Fossils and the Age of the Earth," leading activities with a Geiger Counter.
Professor Nadia Lapusta gives a Watson Lecture for the general public on "Under the Hood of the Earthquake Machine" - Wednesday, February 13, 2013, 8:00 pm, Beckman Auditorium [Watch video on iTunes U - scroll to #33]
Graduate students Thomas Ader and Kirsten Siebach lead presentations for visiting 6th graders from St. Bedes School in La Canada - Thomas spoke about "When continents collide: working in the highest mountains of the world," and Kirsten spoke about "Rock my World: the power of Volcanoes"
January
Beyond Rocks - By identifying the isotopic arrangement of atoms in naturally occurring molecules, Eiler and his group can learn about the conditions under which the molecule formed.
Caltech E&S article
Earth's core may be hotter than scientists thought - Jennifer Jackson's group squeezed samples of iron to tremendous pressures using diamond anvil cells, while using infrared laser beams to heat the samples further. They found that at pressures found at Earth's core, iron needs a higher temperature to melt than previously thought. Press release | Advanced Photon Source |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Creeping fault segments, may, in some cases, contribute to massive earthquakes - as shown by new earthquake fault models developed by Nadia Lapusta and Hiroyuki Noda. They hypothesize that this is what occurred in the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Japan earthquake, which was unexpectedly large.
Graduate students Luca Malatesta, Steve Skinner, Renata Cummins, and Caj Neubauer visit a 6th grade class at Blair Middle School - to help the students plan their science fair projects
Forty-three 4th-graders from Mirman School tour Tectonics Observatory - Graduate student Nina Lin gave a presentation on "The Biggest Wave," while graduate student Thomas Ader led an activity on "When
continents collide: working in the highest mountains of the world"
TO scientists participate in workshop at the Armory for the Arts, for artists who teach in the "Children Investigate the Environment" program - Graduate student Erika Swanson gave a presentation on her research and showed how she uses drawing and visualization
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