Clara Yoon
Clara is an earthquake seismologist at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California. She conducts research on earthquake activity using machine learning algorithms applied to large seismic data sets. Previously, she led the IT and software operations on the USGS side of the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN, https://www.scsn.org).
Education
2018 Ph.D. Geophysics, Stanford University
Thesis: A FAST Data Mining Approach for Similar Earthquake Detection
2015 M.S. Geophysics, Stanford University
2006 B.S. Physics, University of California Los Angeles
Professional Experience
2020 - present Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, CA
2018 - 2020 Supervisory Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, CA
2012 - 2018 Graduate Student Researcher, Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2006 - 2012 Staff Scientist, Areté Associates, Northridge, CA
Current Interests
Understanding physical processes driving the 2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence
Southern California earthquake monitoring, seismicity analysis, and hazards
Testing machine learning algorithms in operational earthquake monitoring software, in collaboration with Caltech Seismo Lab
What new insights about earthquakes can be extracted from the application of data mining and machine learning techniques to large seismological and geophysical data sets?
How do earthquakes start, what can trigger earthquakes, how do earthquakes stop, and why do some earthquakes grow large when most do not? How do earthquakes interact with each other?
How can software development best practices, open data repositories, cloud computing, and automated workflows improve transparency, reproducibility, collaboration, and dissemination of computational earthquake science research?
Past Projects (USGS)
USGS lead role in development, maintenance, and operation of real-time earthquake monitoring software in the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN), in collaboration with Caltech Seismo Lab
Product planning and requirements development for the next-generation Earthquake Notification Service (ENS), which sends customized real-time email and text earthquake notifications to over 400,000 users
Planning and requirements development for the next-generation ANSS Quake Monitoring Software (AQMS) used in regional seismic networks
Software maintenance, testing, documentation, and user support for the AQMS Jiggle GUI, an application for human review of earthquake waveforms, locations, and magnitudes
Planning, coordination, and support for real-time ground shaking intensity (ShakeMap) products for southern California earthquakes
Promoting software development best practices: version control, git workflow, coding standards, unit tests, integration tests, issue tracking, code review, documentation
Management, supervision, and hi