Graham Kent

Biography

Dr. Graham M. Kent is Director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory/ and Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previous to July 2009, Graham was a Research Geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and had been Director of the Visualization Center at Scripps from 2001-2009. Dr. Kent is a native of South Lake Tahoe, California. He attended San Diego State University, where he studied Geophysics and graduated Valedictorian of the Class of 1985. Soon thereafter, he entered graduate school at Scripps Institution of Oceanography receiving his PhD in 1992.  After a 4-year-long appointment at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Graham returned to Scripps to continue his work in geophysics, with an emphasis toward seismic studies of extensional tectonics, ranging from magma chambers beneath mid-ocean ridges to fault hazards at Lake Tahoe. While at Scripps, he led an effort to use advanced visualization techniques to study faulting and volcanic systems.  Dr. Kent has conducted a variety of studies around the globe, including tsunami and ocean bottom seismic research. He’s mapped earthquake faults beneath Lake Tahoe that have produced tsunamis and most recently has placed important constraints on southern San Andreas Fault recurrence times through mapping cross faults beneath the Salton Sea. More recently, his research interests include mapping fault hazards within the Walker Lane using seismic imagery in lakes and airborne LiDAR on land.