Annual Meeting - SCEC.org

Report | SCEC Advisory Council
household knowledge, mitigation, and preparedness related to earthquake hazards. The survey
will produce findings that can be generalized to households in southern California’s highearthquake-risk
counties. These findings could point CEO in important new directions.
Communication training for SCEC members. CEO should consider the development of a formal
training program for SCEC scientists, through a training manual or short course, in the
communication of risk and scientifically based prediction. Such training should include insight
from the social sciences regarding the most effective way to craft the content and form of
scientifically credible predictions of damaging earthquakes (particularly short-term predictions).
SCEC scientists should be prepared in the event that such a prediction emerges from their research.
A CEO research program. The CEO program should consider the development of a modest
research program sharply focused on programmatic needs. This program should be crafted to
produce new understanding that can enhance the effectiveness of future CEO activities in southern
California.
An evaluation of Putting Down Roots. The centerpiece of SCEC CEO activities, Putting Down
Roots in Earthquake Country, has become the national standard for public hazards education. The
document was conceived on the basis of best practices in the social sciences in 1980s and early
1990s, but that knowledge base has since advanced. Moreover, Roots has undergone revisions over
time, and different organizations now take pride in its ownership. The SCEC CEO program should
begin to lay the groundwork for the possible revision of the content of Roots, as well as revisions to
the strategies used to disseminate it.
Such an evaluation might take the following form: (1) Information learned about the effectiveness
of Roots in the statewide OES CSSC survey should be used to inform revisions in content and
dissemination strategies. (2) A small set of social scientists familiar with the appropriate research
record and the results of the statewide survey should be assembled to comment of the substance
and form of Roots to ensure that it still represents the current state of the art. (3) A private firm
should be engaged (and overseen by the appropriate social scientists) to conduct focus groups to
determine the most effective way to present the material in the document. (4) The original research
that led to Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country had more to say about the effectiveness of such
information than what such a document might contain, but the context in which Roots is
distributed is as important as the substance of the document itself. Existing and previous
distributions of Roots should be reviewed and evaluated from this “nested communications”
model, and the outcomes of such a review should play a central role in future Roots distribution
plans if the pending statewide survey yields similar conclusions. (5) Finally, the contents of the
document should be reviewed to determine if it provides adequate information about household
readiness for earthquakes of differing severity and infrastructure damage.
Evaluation of ELCA
SCEC recently established, under the CEO program, an Office of Experiential Learning and Career
Advancement (ELCA), staffed by Sue Perry. The responsibilities of this office include supervision
of three intern programs and administration of the nascent SCEC Distinguished Speakers Program.
The SCEC Director, in his 7 September letter, requested that the Advisory Council provide an
evaluation of plans for ELCA activities and organization.
The Advisory Council concurs that the growth of the SCEC intern programs, particularly at
member institutions other than the University of Southern California, warrants the appointment of
a dedicated administrator. Initial plans for the ELCA office look to be appropriate, but one area
deserving of further consideration is communication of the message to students, e.g., through
26 | Southern California Earthquake Center