Rachel Carson College Faculty Fellows
Sikina Jinnah is Rachel Carson College's new faculty chair!
The Chair of the Faculty is an Academic Senate member, other than the Provost, who is elected by the college Faculty to serve a two year term, and will serve as a member of the Executive Committee.
Dr. Jinnah is an Associate Professor in the Politics Department, an affiliated faculty member in the Environmental Studies Department, and a 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her research focuses on the shifting locations of power and influence in global environmental governance, and in particular the role of transnational actors in environmental decision-making. Her most recent projects examine how key norms in global climate politics shape power relations, the role of U.S. preferential trade agreements in shaping environmental policy in trading partner nations, and the politics of climate engineering governance.
- Title
- Professor
- Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division
- Department
- Earth & Planetary Sciences Department
- Fax 831-459-3074
- Website
- Office Location
- Earth & Marine Sciences, c370
- Earth & Marine Science C370
- Mail Stop Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Faculty Areas of Expertise Earthquakes, Geophysics, Earth Sciences, Geology, Natural Resource Management
- Courses ES 110C: The Dynamic Earth, ES 11: Earthquakes, ES 290J: Earthquake Physics, ES 112: Practical Geophysics, ES 266: Time Series Analysis
Summary of Expertise
Emily Brodsky is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As an earthquake physicist, she studies the mechanics underlying earthquakes, addressing questions about the processes that trigger earthquakes and the constraining forces and processes that occur inside a fault zone during slip. These studies require expertise in a variety of geoscience disciplines, including seismology, hydrogeology, structural geology, and rock mechanics. She also works in fundamental physics and engineering disciplines such as the strength of materials, granular flow, and tribology.
Research Interests
Biography, Education and Training
Emily Brodsky is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As an earthquake physicist, she studies the mechanics underlying earthquakes, addressing questions about the processes that trigger earthquakes and the constraining forces and processes that occur inside a fault zone during slip. These studies require expertise in a variety of geoscience disciplines, including seismology, hydrogeology, structural geology, and rock mechanics.
After the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan, Brodsky helped organize and lead a major international expedition to study the fault. Her recent work includes important findings about earthquakes induced by human activities in which fluids are injected deep underground (e.g., hydraulic fracturing, wastewater disposal, and geothermal wells).
Brodsky earned her A.B. from Harvard University in 1995 and Ph.D. in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 2001. A fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Geological Society of America (GSA), she received the inaugural 2005 Charles Richter Early Career Award from the Seismological Society of America, the 2008 James Macelwane Medal from the AGU, the 2019 Woollard Award from the GSA, the AGU Gutenberg Lectureship in 2019, and the 2021 Price Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. Brodsky was selected as a distinguished lecturer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Earthscope program, the NSF GeoPRISMS program, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), and the National Science Board. She has served on the boards of directors of the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) and the Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology (IRIS), and she is currently chair of SZ4D, a coordinated research initiative to study subduction zones. She has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles and has presented over 150 invited lectures in 30 states and 13 countries. Her work was been featured in major media outlets such as the BBC, NPR, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She has mentored 17 postdoctoral scientists, 19 graduate students, and 21 undergraduate student researchers, many of whom have gone on to be leaders in the field.
Honors, Awards and Grants
2023 Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences
2022 Nemmers Award in Earth Science
2021 Price Medal Royal Astronomical Society
2019 Fellow of the Geological Society of America
2019 George P. Wollard Award of the Geological Society of America
2019 Gutenberg Lecturer of the American Geophysical Union
2017-2018 IODP Ocean Discovery Distinguished Lecturer
2010 Geo-Prisms Distinguished Lecturer
2009 Earthscope Distinguished Lecturer
2008 American Geophysical Union Macelwane Award
2006 Seismological Society of America Richter Award
Selected Publications
Teaching Interests
