Curriculum Vitae

Download my 2-page CV and publication list

About me

I am an Associate Professor at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. I am also a Guest Professor at the Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich, Germany.

My research interests include:

  • Earthquake physics.

Modeling and imaging of earthquake source dynamics, rock friction, structure and rheology of crustal fault zones

  • Fracture mechanics 

Analytical description of crack propagation, frictional failure and atomistic modeling

  • Seismic wave propagation

High frequency wave fields, strong ground motions and seismic hazard analysis

  • Earthquake cycles and tsunami generation

Multidisciplinary approaches of earthquake scenario simulations in conjunction with geodynamic and tsunami modeling

  • Numerical methods

Innovative algorithms for wave propagation and dynamic earthquake rupture

  • High Performance Computing

Scalable and flexible software solutions for forward models and uncertainty quantification on modern High Performance Computing infrastructure

As a PostDoc I focused on the development and application of the software package SeisSol for the simulation of realistic strong ground motions as well as for fundamental earthquake physics. SeisSol recently reached performance beyond the “magical” one petaflop/s mark. SeisSol is a high-order accurate Discontinuous Galerkin method implemented on unstructured meshes to solve forward wave propagation problems in realistic media with complex geometry.

I conducted my PhD Studies at the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich, Switzerland with Jean-Paul Ampuero (Caltech, USA), P. Martin Mai (KAUST, Saudi Arabia) and Luis Dalguer and Domenico Giardini (ETH). My main interest was earthquake source physics and fracture mechanics: In which ways will a dynamic earthquake rupture interact with damage surrounding a fault zone?

Previously, my field of research was theoretical material science.  I worked on atomistic simulations of solid-phase epitaxial regrowth of amorphous germanium at the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at the Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany, and was a student mentee at the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC) Dresden.

Education

  • 2022, Habilitation, LMU Munich, Germany
  • 2013, Dr. Sci. (PhD), Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, Advisors: J.-P. Ampuero (Caltech), P.M. Mai (KAUST), L.-A. Dalguer & D. Giardini (ETH Zurich)
  • 2008, Diplom (MSc), Physics, Technical University Dresden, Germany
  • 2006, Certificate of Proficiency, Geophysics, Geology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • 2004, Vordiplom (BSc), Physics, Technical University Dresden, Germany

Awards

  • 2023, James B. Macelwane Medal & AGU Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 2022, C.F. Gauss Lecturer, German Geophysical Society (DGG)
  • 2020, Charles F. Richter Early Career Award, Seismological Society of America (SSA)
  • 2020, Ada Lovelace Award for HPC, Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE)
  • 2019,  ERC Starting Grant Awardee, European Research Commission (ERC)
  • 2018, Appointment to the Center of Advanced Studies, Young Center, LMU Munich
  • 2018 & 2022, Student Cluster Competition Reproducibility Challenge, SC Conference, Uphoff et al., 2017 and Krenz
    et al., 2022 were selected for real-time, non-stop, 48-hour undergraduate student competitions
  • 2017, Best Paper Award, SC Conference, prestigious prize for application driven HPC, for Uphoff et al., 2017
  • 2014, PRACE Award, International Supercomputing Conference (ISC), for Breuer et al., 2014
  • 2014, Best Poster Award & Best Visualization Awards, PASC Meeting, Zurich & Volkswagen Foundation Extreme Events Meeting, Hannover
  • 2012, Outstanding Student Paper Award, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA
  • 2012 & 2013, Travel Grants, ECGS Workshop, Luxembourg; EMFCSC Workshop, Erice, Italy
  • 2008, Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation Travel Grant, German Physical Society
  • 2007, ELISA Mentoring Scholarship, TU Dresden Excellency of Women in Science Promotion Program
  • 2006, DAAD Study Abroad Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service, University of Auckland, NZ

Recent Invited Talks 

(to be updated)

  • UCLA, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Colloquium, November 2024
  • TREAD/Earthquake Physics & Induced Seismicity (EPIS) workshop and conference, Lunteren, Netherlands, November 2024
  • Curiosity Ignited, UCSD, November 2024
  • GFZ Potsdam, Germany, GeoInquire Workshop ``Toward Data Lakes for Recorded and Simulated Earthquake Ground Motions'',
    September 2024
  • UC Riverside, June 2024