Earthquake Fellows

Calling High School Sophomores and Juniors from nearby schools.

Become a Caltech Earthquake Fellow!

Join our 4 month program to understand the science of earthquakes, learn how to measure them, and gain the skills needed to succeed in university settings.

Students may apply to this program who are currently 10th or 11th grade students for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Applications will open in the beginning of February.

Fellowship runs May to August on selected Saturdays plus a month of weekdays in the summer (June and July).

Program Overview

In May to August of 2025, you'll have the opportunity to be a High School Earthquake Fellow at Caltech's Seismological Laboratory. Work with and learn from the leading earthquake scientists, researchers, engineers, and technicians in Southern California. This three-part program, comprised of 4-hours each day on 3 Saturdays in the Spring, 19 weekdays in the Summer, and 2 Saturdays at the End-of-Summer, provides current high school sophomores and juniors with instruction and experiences that help them gain the skills to succeed in university settings. All accepted Fellows will be loaned a computer for use during the program, transportation to a field experience, and build a Raspberry Shake seismometer to keep after completion of the program. By the time the fellowship is completed in August 2025, Fellows will have learned the basic science of earthquakes, computer skills such as recording data and plotting the results, critical thinking skills to analyze the data, and gained exposure to the geology of Los Angeles, experience of the research process, public speaking and poster presentation skills.

The Fellowship program will run on the following dates:

• Part 1: May - June
  The first part will take place on three Saturday mornings towards the end of the school year, with two in-person lessons and one in-person field trip. Students will build a basic seismometer, install it in their homes or schools, and learn the computer skills to monitor the data.
  
• Part 2: June and July
  The more in-depth second part would occur for 4 weeks during the summer, and students will conduct research using the data they collect from the Raspberry Shake seismometers guided by graduate student and post-doc mentors from the Seismological Laboratory. Students will also participate in campus and lab tours, engage in talks with visiting scientists, and learn more about application and financial aid processes when applying to colleges
  
• Part 3: August 
  The third part will be two Saturdays at the End-of-Summer. The students will have the data from their seismometers and from the network catalog and will prepare presentations of what they have seen with their instruments in a culminating event that celebrates the importance of scientific communication.

Application Process

Apply by simply filling out the online application. All high school students currently in grades 10 and 11 will be considered. Students will be expected to have completed three years of high school math or up to and including Integrated Math III. Priority will be given to students who want to explore and understand the Earth around them. Decisions on applications will be made by mid-April 2025.

What qualifications they need: Students don't need to be science experts, they just have to be interested in learning! They should show drive and commitment to the program.

The program is a mix between presentations, student discussion, a field trip, and project work. The focus of the project content will be around data analysis and creating instrumentation. The program will take place primarily on the Caltech campus, and fellows would have to transport themselves to the campus. Students demonstrating the need for supplemented transportation costs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. For any field trips, transportation would be provided. The Fellows are given a computer for them to use. The total time commitment of a fellow is about 130 hours.

For questions or inquiries, please contact Ariel Raymond.

Benefits to Fellows

1. Real experience working on Caltech's campus
2. Have a researcher-guided group project
3. Instruction by leading earthquake experts
4. College-application worthy experience
5. Public Speaking training
6. Raspberry Shake seismometers to keep after completion of the program

Expectation of Fellows

1. Attend all 25 sessions - be on time and stay until the end
2. Transport themselves to and from Caltech
3. Actively participate in programs, discussions, and projects
4. Do approximately 30 hours of work outside of the program
5. Complete projects on time
6. The total time commitment of a fellow is about 130 hours