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Report | SCEC Advisory Council
Report of the Advisory Council
Southern California Earthquake Center
September 2007 Meeting
Introduction
The Advisory Council of the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) met during the 2007
SCEC Annual Meeting, held in Palm Springs, California, during 9-12 September 2007. The principal
meeting of the council was during the evening of 11 September; an earlier session was held prior to
the start of the Annual Meeting on 9 September to outline areas of focus. The council chair
summarized the principal council findings and recommendations in an oral report delivered
during the closing session of the Annual Meeting on the morning of 12 September.
On 7 September the SCEC Director had circulated to the Advisory Council a report summarizing
how SCEC had responded to Advisory Council recommendations from the previous year and
presented a number of new issues warranting council attention. Those new issues included an
evaluation of the center’s Communication, Education, and Outreach (CEO) Program; an evaluation
of CEO’s Office of Experiential Learning and Career Advancement; feedback on the Collaboratory
for the Study of Earthquake Predictability; advice on initiatives in large-scale earthquake
simulation; and further advice on issues previously identified by the Advisory Council in the areas
of communication, publications, partnerships, and promotion of diversity within the organization.
After a few general remarks below, we discuss the issues raised by the Director in his 7 September
mailing, we comment on a number of recurring topics, and we make several recommendations as
needed.
Some General Impressions
Because members of the Advisory Council are not also members of SCEC, the Annual Meeting
provides an important opportunity for council members to assess annual progress on the center’s
goals and programs. The 2007 meeting and associated workshops proved again to be impressive
demonstrations of the energy and enthusiasm of the SCEC community. The 137 registrants who
were attending their first SCEC Annual Meeting (30% of the 451 total registrants) constituted
heartening evidence of the center’s growing participation and exciting mission.
The Advisory Council again lauds the SCEC membership for the persistently selfless spirit with
which everyone involved has worked constructively to develop communal, system-level
representations that are advancing the goals of fundamental and applied earthquake science. The
structure of the 2007 meeting was well conceived to permit ample discussion of issues, lively
interactions at the many poster presentations of new science, and well-chosen overview talks, most
featuring early-career scientists who exemplify the new generation of SCEC leaders. The Advisory
Council also applauds SCEC’s continually developing partnerships with the earthquake
engineering community.
It is the view of the Advisory Council that the transition from the second (SCEC2, 2002-2007) to the
third (SCEC3, 2007-1012) phase of SCEC has been accomplished smoothly. The new organization
appeared to be working constructively and cooperatively toward the accomplishment of the
center’s newly articulated scientific and programmatic objectives.
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