Dr. Daniel Bowden

Daniel is a postdoc in the group of Seismology and Wave Physics at ETH Zurich. He joined in August 2018, after completing his PhD at Caltech. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree from UCSD in 2010, and also worked briefly with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, CO.

Daniel is interested in a range of methods relating to seismic hazard and crustal scale tomography. Given that the strength of shaking during earthquake events can vary dramatically based on local geology (i.e., in sedimentary basins), there is a continual need to improve our understanding of the 3D structure of the Earth’s crust, and the resulting effect on wave propagation. He believes the path and site components of seismic hazard analysis can be:

• Observed empirically, for example through novel ambient-noise-based array processing techniques.
• Better modeled through straightforward but physics-driven analytic approximations.
• Tested and described probabilistically through modern HPC approaches and simulations.

Daniel is committed to pursuing research that can help the world in practical ways, and believes it is only at the intersection of science theory and practical engineering needs that we can move forward.