Dismantling a TRM OBS aboard the RV Sikuliaq (photo: Aubreya Adams).
Seismologist | Associate Professor
Dr. Helen Janiszewski is a seismologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences (Geophysics and Tectonics Division) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Her research seismic imaging to understand how the solid Earth behaves beneath subduction zones and volcanoes, linking deep structure to the earthquakes that rupture plate boundaries and the magmatic systems that feed arc and ocean-island volcanism. She works across the full path from instrument to interpretation, much of it offshore: deploying ocean-bottom and amphibious seismic arrays at sea, developing the methods and open-source tools that make seafloor data usable, and applying techniques such as receiver functions and surface-wave imaging to constrain crust and mantle structure.
Recent News
Received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at UHM! (2026)
Appointed Handling Editor at Seismica (2026-2029)
Delivered an Early Career Keynote presentation at the Subduction Zones in 4-Dimensions Community Meeting (2026)
Appointed member of the Hawaiʻi Earthquake and Tsunami Advisory Committee (HETAC) (2026)
New paper in Seismological Research Letters, Ambient Noise Analyses at Broadband Ocean Bottom Seismometers: Data Quality and Transfer Function Corrections, Janiszewski and Russell (2025)
Invited panelist for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee on Solid Earth Geophysics: Advancing Marine Geophysical Sensing for Solid Earth Exploration (2025)
Serving on the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Program Committee for the Seismology Section (2025-2027)
New paper in Nature Geoscience, Seismic imaging of active cratonic thinning beneath North America consistent with slab-induced dripping, Hua et al. (2025)
Member of the Subduction Zones in 4-Dimensions Steering Committee (2025-present)
Where Our Research Takes Us
Cover page includes video from 2022 Pāhala deployment (HVO/USGS funded), and footage from ROV JASON during 2019 AACSE recovery cruise aboard R/V Sikuliaq (NSF funded).