David Wald ’84, earthquake researcher, is
shaking up the science world. A geologist by profession, he has appeared
on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, BBC, and PBS while his articles have been
published in newspapers and journals like USA Today, The New
York Times and the Los Angeles Times. His awards include
the California Emergency Services Association’s Diamond Award
(in 2000), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Shoemaker Award
for excellence in communications for USGS real time earthquake informational
products and Web sites.
An adjunct associate professor of geophysics at the Colorado School
of Mines and supervisory research geophysicist and real-time seismic
products research and development coordinator at U.S. Geological
Survey, David’s undergraduate years as a physics major
provided him “a sense of achievement, by virtue
of simply not taking the easiest path.” He looks back on the geology field
trips at SLU as “educational and fun” which motivated
him to find something similar as a career. David completed
his master’s from the University of Arizona and doctorate
from California Institute of Technology in geophysics.
His scientific interests include the evaluation of strong motion amplification
in basin environments, waveform modeling and inversion, earthquake
source physics and modern and historic earthquakes. The desire to understand
everything inculcated by interactions with faculty and peers at St.
Lawrence has never left David as he has developed several earthquake
science systems. ‘ShakeMap’ and ‘Did you
feel it?’ have become popular in post-earthquake response and
information. “Being recognized as the person who brought these
to light has been rewarding and traveling around the world for scientific
meetings as an authority in my field is an honor,” he says. David
gave as the Bloomer Lecturer for a recent Geology
Alumni Conference at St. Lawrence.
