Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Experts

Karen Fischer, professor of geological sciences, is a seismologist who seeks to image the structure of the Earth’s crust and mantle more clearly using seismic waves in order to better understand dynamic processes inside the Earth. She speaks about the dynamics of the tsunami that struck Japan from the March 2011 earthquake.

Kerry Smith is an associate professor of history and East Asian studies and author of "A Time of Crisis: Japan, the Great Depression, and Rural Revitalization." His current book project explores the social and cultural histories of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. That event, which devastated most of present-day Tokyo and many of the surrounding communities, stands out as a key but largely unexamined rupture in the history of modern Japan.

Terry Tullis is a professor emeritus of geological sciences. Tullis has studied earthquakes and why they occur for more than four decades. He chairs the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, a body that advises the United States Geological Survey (USGS) both on earthquake predictability and on the validity of specific earthquake predictions. He is also a member of a select team of earthquake scientists giving general advice on earthquakes to the USGS.