Helen Janiszewski

This undergraduate course covers geological and geophysical processes in Hawai‘i, as well as the geology of specific places (Hawai‘i Nei). We will interleave processes and places, starting from Kameʻehukaneloa (formerly, Lō‘ihi) and moving NW along the chain to finish at Meiji seamount (the oldest Hawaiian volcano). Students will be able to look at the entire Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain, understand how it got there, why it is not the same all along the chain, and what the geologic future may hold.

This course is an introductory undergraduate course for students with an interest in learning about the Hawaiian Islands and their geology. It is offered each semester.

Semesters taught: Fall 2021, Fall 2023

This course explores the fundamentals of earthquakes and tectonic crustal deformation through modern seismological and geodetic observations. In this course, we will focus on elastic properties of rocks, earthquake waves, and the causes, detection, location, and forecasting of earthquakes. We will explore the role of plate tectonic stress and strain in earthquake generation and crustal motions associated with the earthquake cycle. Tsunami wave generation, liquefaction, and relevant planetary observations of “quake” like events will also be discussed.

This course is designed for upper-level undergraduates with an interest in earthquakes, geophysics, and/or seismology. It is offered in Spring semesters.

Semesters taught: Spring 2021, Spring 2023

In this course students gain foundational understanding of the basic theory behind statistics, probability, and quantitative data analysis, as well as practical experience in working with real data sets using computer software. The course emphasizes solving problems and independent learning and inquiry. Students learn how to apply exploratory data analysis techniques to characterize their data or discover patterns within it; understand how to propagate errors in calculations of derived quantities; learn and apply concepts of samples, population, probability distributions, and the central limit theorem; apply formal hypothesis testing in interpreting data; gain an introduction to matrices, linear algebra, and least squares formalism for curve fitting and regression; explore various ways to examine sequential data; practice spectral analysis and apply concepts of aliasing and leakage; and analyze directional data. Applications will emphasize geosciences but the course is relevant to all fields of science.

This course is designed for upper-level undergraduates with an interest in developing quantitative data analysis skills related to earth science, and for graduate students in earth science. It is offered in Spring semesters.

Semesters taught: Spring 2022, Spring 2024

The solid Earth deforms over a wide range of length scales, locations, and time scales, and in a variety of ways in response to different forcing mechanisms. This class covers continuum mechanics in geophysics, as applied to the deformation of Earth materials (elastic, viscoelastic, and plastic deformations) and seismic wave propagation (body waves, surface waves, anisotropy, and attenuation). Included topics are tensors, stress and strain in solids, rock failure, moment tensors, elasticity, ductile rheology, viscous flow, equations of motion and boundary conditions, the vector wave equation, wave field energy, reflection and transmission of seismic waves, and surface waves.

This course is designed for graduate students and/or highly motivated undergraduates with research interests in geophysics, seismology, or continuum mechanics. It is offered in Fall semesters.

Semesters taught: Fall 2020, Fall 2023