Daniel Trugman has been honored with the Seismological Society of America’s (SSA) 2023 Charles F. Richter Early Career Award for his scientific productivity, contributions to open-source community software, outreach and teaching.

Trugman, an assistant professor at the University's Nevada Seismological Laboratory, will receive the Richter Award at the 2023 SSA Annual Meeting.

“I am incredibly honored to have received this award; I wouldn’t be here without the support and encouragement from the SSA community,” Trugman said.

Trugman’s research focuses on developing and applying new techniques to analyze large seismic datasets to better understand earthquake rupture processes and how those processes relate to earthquake hazard. Among the topics he has examined in depth are earthquake source properties (including how they differ in induced versus natural earthquakes), earthquake early warning methodologies, and earthquake nucleation and triggering processes.

His work in big data, machine learning and physical modeling have led to significant contributions in multiple aspects of observational seismology, said University of Nevada, Reno Foundation Professor of Geology and Seismology Steven G. Wesnousky, in nominating Trugman for the award.

“Seismology is an increasingly data-rich science,” Wesnousky said. “Daniel’s research has been creative and integral to leveraging emerging opportunities in data science to better understand earthquake physics and earthquake ground motion.”

Trugman is the lead developer of GrowClust, a publicly available software package to optimize the relative locations of earthquake hypocenters. This new method for relocating earthquakes has become popular in the seismological community due to its efficiency and user-friendly interface.

"Daniel’s enthusiasm and passion for science really shines through and we at UNR are most excited to have him here for his teaching and mentoring the next generation of scientists."

In their commendations of Trugman, several colleagues noted Trugman’s dedication to outreach and communication, specifically his efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of geophysics.

As the Richard P. Feynman Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 2018 to 2020, he traveled the state of New Mexico on behalf of the lab’s Employee Scholarship Fund, visiting high schools to encourage the pursuit of college degrees and advising scholarship winners on internship opportunities. As an assistant professor at the University of Texas, Austin from 2020 to 2022, Trugman was a postdoc mentor and taught summer classes focused on developing scientific computing skills that enabled new research experience opportunities for students in Texas and at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

“Daniel’s enthusiasm and passion for science really shines through and we at UNR are most excited to have him here for his teaching and mentoring the next generation of scientists,” Wesnousky said.

Trugman received his 2013 B.S. in geophysics at Stanford University and a 2015 M.S. and a 2017 Ph.D. in Earth sciences from the University of California, San Diego.

The Charles F. Richter Early Career Award honors outstanding contributions to the goals of the SSA by a member early in her or his career. Nominees must have been awarded their most recent academic degree no more than six years prior to 18 April of the year that she or he is selected for the award. The award is supported in part by generous donations to the William B. Joyner Fund.

The Seismological Society of America is a scientific society devoted to the advancement of earthquake science. Founded in 1906 in San Francisco, the Society now has members throughout the world representing a variety of technical interests: seismologists and other geophysicists, geologists, engineers, insurers, and policymakers in preparedness and safety.