About The OpenHazards Group

Open Hazards

“Through the science of complex systems and internet technology, we can make the world more resilient to losses from catastrophic events.”

 

Open Hazards is a group of engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and business people combining expertise in modern methods of statistical and stochastic analysis with computer and web-based tools. We focus on the development and use of tail-risk analytics to assess, forecast, and mitigate catastrophic events including earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and hurricanes.

 

Open Hazards offers reliable real-time natural hazard assessments to the public and world financial community. We provide free web-based forecasting tools and online educational material both for the scientifically curious and individuals wishing to prepare for natural disasters. Our professional products include earthquake forecasts and risk assessment reports for natural disasters, real estate, and financial markets, based on back-tested and peer-reviewed methods of data analysis. For information on our commercial services, please visit our online store.

 

Our Team

John Rundle. Board Chair, Earthquake Forecasting

John Rundle is currently a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Geology at UC Davis*, an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and the Executive Director of the APEC Collaboration for Earthquake Simulations. He formerly chaired the Board of Advisors for the Southern California Earthquake Center from 1994 to 1996. John Rundle achieved a BSE in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 1972 and a PhD in Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA in 1976. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 

Bill Graves. President, CEO, Board Member

Bill Graves has worked as the Director of the Systems Science Lab and the Acting Director of Test and Measurements, Schlumberger. He was the first President and CEO of Cisco Systems (1987-1988). Bill Graves earned a BS in Physics from MIT in 1968, served in the US Army Reserve from 1969-1975, and then completed a PhD in Physics at UC Berkeley in 1977.

 

James R. Holliday. Treasurer, Board Member, Forecast Validation and Software Development

James Holliday is a Research Scientist in Physics at UC Davis*, and former President of Xerasys, Inc. He earned a BS in Physics at the University of Kansas in 1998 and a PhD in Physics at UC Davis in 2007.

 

Boris Jeremic. Engineering

Boris Jeremic is a Professor of Civil Engineering at UC Davis* and a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He earned a Diploma Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from Belgrade University in 1989 and then worked as a consulting engineer in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Switzerland for three years. He then started post-graduate work at the University of Colorado where he earned an MS in 1994 and a PhD in 1997 in Civil Engineering.

 

Sashi Kunnath. Engineering

Sashi Kunnath is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis* and Editor for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and a former Chair of the ASCE Committee on Seismic Effects. Sashi Kunnath earned a B. Eng. in Civil Engineering at Bangalore University in 1980, a M. Eng. in Structural Engineering at the University of Bangkok in 1982 and a PhD in Structural Engineering and Earthquake Engineering at SUNY Buffalo in 1989. In 2008 he was awarded the ASCE Raymond Reese Research Prize for his work in modal adaptive pushover analysis of building structures.

 

Kevin Mayeda. Geotechnical

Kevin Mayeda is a Research Geophysicist at the U.S. National Data Center at Patrick AFB.  Previously he was a Senior Scientst at Weston Geophysical Corporation and a Research Faculty member at the UC Berkeley Seismology Laboratory from 2006 to 2016.  He was a Senior Seismologist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1992 to 2006. Dr. Mayeda earned a BS in Geophysics at UC Berkeley in 1987 and a PhD in Geophysics at the University of Southern California in 1991.   

 

Steven Ward. Geotechnical

Steven Ward is a Research Geophysicist at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UC Santa Cruz. He earned a BS in Physics at Bucknell University (1974) and a PhD in Geophysics at Princeton (1978). Steven specializes in the quantification and simulation of natural hazards.

 

Nelson Page. Real Estate and Numerics

Paul Rundle. Web Services Manager

Alex Hannon. Web Services

Charles Graves. Web Services

Andy Fell. Media

David Calfee. Legal

Erin Calfee. Technical Writing and Editing

 

*The Open Hazards Group has no affiliation to UC Davis. All references to UC Davis and other academic institutions are provided as biographical details only.

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