I am a graduate student with interests in structural geology, active tectonics, earthquake hazards and prediction, and computer science. [download CV]

At the University of Southern California, I am working on the spatial predictability of earthquakes. Using the extensive southern California catalogs, I am placing constraints on the distribution of seismicity in the vicinity of known faults.

I am also working on models and software to evaluate how earthquake induced stress changes affect nearby faults. For this work I use 3D fault models rather than work in two dimensions (map view).

As a Master's student at Oregon State University I studied the Himalayan collision and used balanced cross-sections to estimate shortening rates and assess earthquake hazards in Himalayan foreland (Indo-Gangetic plains). This work led to my interest in the growth of folds above blind thrusts and the relationship of basement topography to observed surface structure in fold-and-thrust belts.

See: Powers P.M., Lillie R.J., Yeats R.S., 1998, Structure and shortening of the Kangra and Dehra Dun reentrants, Sub-Himalaya, India: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 110, p. 1010-1027.