Faculty bio | Earthquake Hazards Group @ UO | 541-346-3401

Valerie Sahakian is an academic expert in seismic hazard. Her main research goals are to characterize fault structures, better estimate ground-motion in the event of an earthquake, and to use ground-motions to understand more about past earthquakes and details of shallow Earth structure. Valerie studies active fault structures, both offshore and onshore. Some of her previous study areas include Southern California, to map fault structures and previous earthquakes in the Imperial Valley, offshore San Diego, and by the Salton Sea. Valerie’s more recent work has targeted tsunami earthquakes, such as the 2010 Mentawai earthquake. At the University of Oregon, she is assistant professor of earth sciences. 

Recent Media:
Tsunami researchers hunt for clues about the next big Pacific Northwest quake (The Washington Post, Dec. 2, 2024)
Noticeable earthquakes more likely to occur in Portland than previously thought (KOIN, Jan. 24, 2024)
Our worst day – preparing for a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami (KLCC, March 17, 2023)
First high-resolution subsurface images of faults in the Imperial Valley (Temblor, March 24, 2022)
GPS data help warn of rare tsunamis (GPS World, March 6, 2020)
A new way to identify a rare type of earthquake in time to issue lifesaving tsunami warnings (The Conversation, Jan. 6, 2020)
Near-field seismic and geodetic observations of a tsunami earthquake, among others (Apple Podcasts, USGS Earthquake Science Center Seminars, Sept. 18, 2019) 
A 7.4 auake in Southern California? A long fault could make it likelier (The New York Times, March 27, 2017)
Earthquake on the beach: Scientists think a 7.4 temblor could reach from L.A. to San Diego (Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2017)
Don’t get shaken up over California’s newly discovered fault (Wired, Oct. 10, 2016)
The most mysterious fault in California (Forbes, Oct. 9, 2016)