Education and Public Outreach
"Earth Science needs recruitment since many students have never studied it at school and don’t know that it’s a university topic. I didn’t know that it was before I started applying to universities. I’d be happy if just one more student tried Earth Science because of me."
- Dan Frost
To request an outreach activity, please fill out our form.
Education 
By facilitating access to high-quality earthquake information and research tools, the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory supports the work of graduate and undergraduate students. BSL faculty teach courses on earthquakes, seismological and geophysical methods, wave propagation, and tectonics. Additionallly, each semester a limited number of undergraduates have the oupportunity to work with BSL faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff on ongoing research projects.
Public Outreach
The BSL is open for tours by appointment and hosts an annual open house in the spring during Cal Day. BSL students, postdocs, and staff visit local schools and neighborhood groups to share their knowledge about earthquakes and research activities.
Recent Outreach Activities
One Hundred 7th graders from Akers Elementary visited UC Berkeley to experience the campus and broaden their horizons. Sierra Boyd and Christina Valen spoke with the students on earthquake early warning and cutting edge research topics including distributed acoustic sensing and rapid magntiude estimation. PhD student Savvas Marcou gave a presentation on the MyShake App and the value of data from phone accelerometers.
The UC Berkeley Society of Women Engineers hosted Mini University on Wednesday, March 16th, 2022, a one-day event that provides under-served high-school students the opportunity to be exposed to the college environment and STEM careers. As part of the program, The BSL provided highlights about current seismology research to give the students a better idea of the fascinating and cutting-edge research that takes place at the Berkeley Seismology Lab. Staff members Christina Valen and Sierra Boyd gave an overview of the Berkeley Seismology Laboratory. Staff member Jenn Strauss introduced Earthquake Early Warning and the MyShake app developed at UC Berkeley. Graduate student Claire Doody gave a presentation about opportunities for Students in Earth Science. Post doctoral researcher Amy Williamson presented hightlights of tsunami research. Post doctoral researcher Federico Munch gave a presentation about seismology and post doctoral researcher Yifang Cheng gave a presentation about her experience as a Scientist in Seismology.
Cal Day 2022 was a little different this year. Instead of coming into McCone Hall, newly admitted students and their families received information about the the Department of Earth & Planetary Science and the Berkeley Seismology Lab from students, postdocs, and staff tabling outside at Smilodon Plaza and Evans Glade.