Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology
Seismological Laboratory
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
California Institute of Technology

I am a geologist whose principal research interest is the study of earthquakes, although I've dabbled a bit in volcanoes, too.  My students and colleagues and I use stratigraphy, geomorphology and geochronology to understand the geometries of earthquake faults, their evolution and their recent history.  For example, we have determined how often the San Andreas fault has produced large earthquakes in southern California and how fast it has been slipping over the past many millennia.  We have also studied large active faults in China, Taiwan, Turkey, Greece and Sumatra.  Current projects are aimed at understanding the repetition of large earthquakes, active faults beneath the Los Angeles region, and the nature of large earthquakes in subduction zones.


Curriculum Vitae

April 8, 2003

Professional Positions:

Professor of Geology (1986-present)
Associate Professor of Geology (1982-1986)
Assistant Professor of Geology (1977-1982)

Academic Degrees:

Ph.D. (Geology), Stanford University, 1977


"Late Holocene Displacement History along the South-Central Reach of the San Andreas Fault"

A.B. with highest honors (Geology), University of California, Riverside, 1972

Principal Research Activities:

Earthquake geology (Neotectonics and paleoseismology)
Quaternary stratigraphy
Quaternary volcanism
Seismic and volcanic hazards

Professional Societies:

American Geophysical Union (Fellow)
Geological Society of America  (Fellow, 1996)
Seismological Society of America

Awards and Honors:

Gordon Watkins Award (from Chancellor, University of California at Riverside for community service), 1972.
E.B. Burwell, Jr., Memorial Award of the Engineering Geology Division, Geological Society of America, 1980. In recognition of published paper, Sieh (1978b).
National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research, 1982.
Honoree, 1986 Esquire Register: Esquire, December 1986, p.208.
Honoree, 1988 Los Angeles Times, "88 in 88": Los Angeles Times Magazine, IV, January 10, 1988, p. 23.
Fellow, Geological Society of America, 1996.
Commendation, for public service, City of West Hollywood, 1997.
Outreach Award, for Knowledge Transfer, Southern California Earthquake Center, 1998
National Academy of Sciences, member, 1999
Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2001

Selected recent service:

Member, Committee on the Science of Earthquakes, Nat'l Research Council, Nat'l Academy of Sciences (1996-1998)
Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Basic Research, Committee on Science (April 24, 1997)
Member, Advisory Panel, Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (2000-present)
Member, U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (2000-2003)
Member, Assessment Committee, Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taiwan (2004)

Division Post-doctoral Fellowship Committees (1995-2003)
Co-chair, Division Seminar Program (1995-97)
Member, Geology Search Committee (1998- )
Chair, Division GIS Committee (1996-2000)
Caltech Faculty Board, (2000-2001)
Leader, Division field trip to Greece and Turkey (Sept 1999)
Chair, Division Visiting Professor Committee (2003- )

Interviewee, KPCC Airtalk: The Caltech Edition, (23 Sep 98, 22 Mar 99)
Invited lectures 1998-2004: Active faulting and paleoseismology Summer School, Luxembourg (July 1998); USC (Nov 1998); MIT (Feb 99); PCC "Science, Technology and Ethics" series (March 1999); UC Berkeley (April 1999); Caltech Watson lecture (April 2000); Pasadena Senior Center (April 2000); National Association of Geology Teachers, Annual meeting (April 2000); Taiwan earthquake commemoration workshop Taipei (Sept 2000); NTU Singapore Sept 2000); Branner Club, Pasadena (Feb 2001); Chi-chi earthquake 2nd anniversary conference, Taipei, Taiwan (Sept 2001); First International Meeting on both Sea-level changes and coastal evolution (INQUA) and Neotectonics (INQUA), Taipei, Taiwan (Oct 2001); 8th East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering & Construction, Singapore (Dec 2001); Keynote speech, (2004) meeting of Joint Geoscience Assemblage, "The Construction and Destruction of Taiwan: Past, Present and Future" Taoyuan, Taiwan, (17 May 2004)