Faculty/Staff

Savran, William

Status: Network Manager

Summary

A Nevada native, I grew up in Las Vegas and received an undergraduate degree in Geophysics from UNR in May of 2012. After UNR, I attended a joint-Doctoral program with San Diego State University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I studied Computational Geophysics with Kim Olsen and Steve Day, and received my Ph.D. in 2017. My thesis focused on developing stochastic models of faults and earth properties to enable physics-based simulations of strong-ground motions to achieve frequencies relevant for engineering analysis.

After my Ph.D. I worked as a Computer Scientist with the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) for five years. At SCEC I worked primarily in earthquake statistics and forecasting to develop new methods for evaluating probabilistic earthquake forecasts. This work was part of the international Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability.

As the Network Manager at the NSL, I am the PI and Co-PI on the technical operations of the lab (USGS ANSS, USGS ShakeAlert, LYNM, RV/DC, and ALERTWildFire grants). I oversee the operation of the digital microwave network and data acquisition for the multi-hazard projects in the lab. Currently we operate over 220 seismographs across the state and Fire cameras in the Reno/Tahoe area.

My research interests are related to understanding the fundamental nature of seismicity and how we can use that knowledge to better prepare ourselves for the inevitable 'big one'. I'm interested in understanding how we can leverage the rapidly growing amounts of earthquake data using statistical methods and machine-learning. I'm also interested in using our increased understanding from this data to create more informative seismic hazard and forecasting models.

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