William Ellsworth

Biography

My research interests can be broadly defined as the study of active faults, the earthquakes they generate and the physics of the earthquake source. A major objective of my work is to improve our knowledge of earthquake hazards through the application of physics-based understanding of the underlying processes. I have also long been committed to earthquake risk reduction, specifically through the transfer of scientific understanding of the hazard to people, businesses, policymakers and government agencies. Before coming to Stanford in the fall of 2015, I was a research geophysicist at the U. S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California for more than 40 years where I focused on problems of seismicity, seismotectonics, probabilistic earthquake forecasting, and earthquake source processes.

Research Interest

Introduction to the foundations of contemporary geophysics, Introductory Seismology