In light of the recent earthquake activity in California, and the potential for it to continue, we held a special Virtual Forum for the Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network. This forum featured a 15-minute presentation from Dr. Erica Fischer of Oregon State University and Dr. Manny Hakhamaneshi of the California Department of Transportation and California State University-East Bay. Erica and Manny are the founders and leaders of the Virtual Earthquake Reconnaissance Team (VERT) for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. During this Virtual Forum, Erica and Manny explained how VERT works and what they have learned from the recent California earthquakes as well as past earthquake events, and shared ways for social scientists to get involved in virtual reconnaissance. Dr. Jennifer Tobin of the Natural Hazards Center also shared information on two small grant program opportunities.
CONVERGE is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation, Program on Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (Award #1841338). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.