HOUGH, Susan Elizabeth 1961-

PERSONAL: Surname is pronounced like "Huff"; born March 20, 1961, in Cambridge, MA; daughter of Jerry (a professor) and Barbara (a teacher; maiden name, Smith) Hough; married Lee Slice (a biochemist), December 12, 1981; children: Sarah Diane, Joshua David, Paul Robert. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of California—Berkeley, A.B. (with honors), 1982; University of California—San Diego, Ph.D., 1987. Politics: Independent. Hobbies and other interests: Photography, travel, reading.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—U.S. Geological Survey, 525 South Wilson Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106; fax: 626-583-7827. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Columbia University, New York, NY, research scientist in Palisades, NY, 1988-92; U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, CA, research seismologist, 1992—.

MEMBER: American Geophysical Union, Seismological Society of America (member of board of directors, 1998—).

AWARDS, HONORS: Cited for "outstanding academic title," Choice, for Earthshaking Science: What We Know and Don't Know about Earthquakes.

WRITINGS:

Earthshaking Science: What We Know and Don't Know about Earthquakes, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2002.

Finding Fault in California, Mountain Press Publishing (Missoula, MT), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Natural History. Editor in chief, Seismological Research Letters.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research on historic earthquakes in India and the United States.

SIDELIGHTS: Susan Elizabeth Hough told CA: "I am a scientist whose research focuses on earthquakes. Although my research is highly technical, earthquakes are a natural hazard and therefore of concern to the public. Earth science is also a fascinating science apart from hazard issues. Yet few books discuss modern seismology or earth science at a level that is accessible and engaging to a nonspecialist audience.

"My primary motivations for writing are to provide the public with a better understanding of earthquakes and the hazard they represent, and to communicate the excitement of modern scientific discovery in my field.

"In my approach to science writing for a nonspecialist audience I have been influenced and motivated by the late Stephen Jay Gould, whose astonishing publication record demonstrated that science can be explained to a nonspecialist audience without watering down or otherwise compromising the integrity of the subject matter."