Dr. Lucy Jones
California Institute of Technology
Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science & Society
U.S. Geological Survey, emeritus
Biography: Dr. Lucy Jones is the chief scientist of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, activating the use of science in the creation of more resilient communities, and a Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech. With a BA in Chinese Language and Literature from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from MIT, Dr. Jones has furthered resilience to natural hazards through scientific research and collaborations with policy makers, including 33 years with the US Geological Survey.
She created the Great ShakeOut, an earthquake drill that included 62 million participants around the world in 2019, wrote over 100 published papers on statistical seismology and integrated disaster scenarios, and most recently published The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and what we can do about them) (published by Doubleday, 2018). She is also a musician and composed In Nomine Terra Calens (In the name of a warming earth). Her pioneering science was recognized with numerous awards including Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal.