EERI is delighted to announce that Dr. Mark Petersen (M.EERI 2002) has been awarded the 2026 Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Medal in recognition of his extraordinary leadership of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) Project and his work to improve seismic resilience worldwide.
The Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Medal is presented to an individual, company, or organization that has made substantial contributions to the field of seismic safety and earthquake risk reduction, having directly affected the seismic safety of the general population.
Over the past three decades, Dr. Petersen researched and led seismic hazard modeling efforts for the U.S. and about 30 countries across the globe. He led research teams at the California Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey to probabilistically quantify earthquake rates, locations, and ground motions in developing seismic hazard assessments applied in building design codes. With CGS, he led efforts on the California active fault near-source zones for the 1997 UBC, a California geologically-based site response map, time-dependent and uncertainty maps, and California hazard maps incorporated in the 1996 California portion of 2000 International Building Code and California Seismic Hazard Mapping Act products.
Dr. Petersen took over leadership of the USGS’s National Seismic Hazard Model Project in 2004, and led product development for the next 20 years. Applications of the NSHM include building codes and seismic guidelines documents for other infrastructure, land-use planning, insurance loss estimates, and disaster planning. It is the touchstone for which many decisions regarding seismic hazard mitigation are made in the U.S. and an example of how seismic hazard maps and their products should be developed worldwide.
His leadership of the NSHM project included four versions incorporated in the International Building Code, three versions of the 1-year forecasts on induced and natural earthquakes for the central and eastern U.S., and the development of a methodology for assessing probabilistic fault displacement hazard for strike-slip faults. Within each cycle, he worked with USGS staff to engage the earth science and engineering communities for their review and input. His vision hard work helped ensure that the NSHM is truly a national model that reflects the best available science and practice in seismic hazard analysis. In addition to his work with the NSHM, Dr. Petersen has assisted many other earthquake-prone countries with the development of their national hazard maps, improving seismic hazard estimation and mitigation that will save lives. As an EERI member, he also served as an associate editor of Earthquake Spectra and co-led two special collections on seismic hazards for the journal.
