2019-20 Wayne Morse Chair Lecture featuring Dr. Lucy Jones, Caltech. As the planet warms, we face increased risk from hotter and longer wildfire seasons, more intense storms, drought, flooding, and more. In the Pacific Northwest, we also live with the reality of the looming Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Working with both the public and private sectors, Caltech seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones seeks to increase communities’ ability to adapt and be resilient to the dynamic changes of the world around them. The aim is to understand and communicate where the greatest vulnerabilities lie and what actions can be taken to reduce the risk that are the most cost-effective.

Dr. Jones completed 33 years of federal service with the US Geological Survey in March 2016. Most recently, she led the creation of a national science strategy for all the natural hazards studied by the USGS to promote the science that would better prepare the nation for future natural hazards.

In her book The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), Dr. Jones offers both a look at how natural disasters have affected the course of history and how we can prepare for them. 

Free pamphlets will be available to attendees offering a checklist of items to purchase and steps to take over a three-month period to create an emergency supply kit and disaster preparation plan for themselves and their families.

Please see below for links to other disaster preparedness information and resources. We know that thinking about natural hazards can produce anxiety. Having a plan can help you feel less scared.

OPB: Unprepared: Will We Be Ready For The Megaquake In Oregon?

NPR: The Big One: Your Survival Guide (features several interviews with Dr. Jones)

Learn about the risks posed by the predicted Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and what you can do to prepare for it.

A training for UO students, faculty, and staff that features a panel discussion by seismologists Dr. Lucy Jones (Caltech) and Prof. Doug Toomey (UO Earth Sciences), as well as Krista Dillon (Director of Operations for UO Safety and Risk Services). Participants will learn what the earthquake might feel like, what kind of damage is expected, and how they can take steps to be more prepared on campus and at home. It will include a brief “drop, cover and hold” drill as part of the Great Oregon ShakeOut.

Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, UO Safety and Risk Services, and the Department of Earth Sciences.

UO employees can sign up for the training on MyTrack; students do not need to register. 

Featuring Dr. Lucy Jones (Caltech). Invited guest, Yumei Wang (DOGAMI). 

Dr. Lucy Jones is the founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, with a mission to foster the understanding and application of scientific information in the creation of more resilient communities. She is also a research associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech. In 2016, she completed 33 years of federal service with the US Geological Survey. Most recently, she led the creation of a national science strategy for all the natural hazards studied by the USGS to promote the science that would better prepare the nation for future natural hazards. In her recent book The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), Dr. Jones offers both a look at how natural disasters have affected the course of history and how we can prepare for them.

Yumei Wang is a civil/geohazards engineer at the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, focusing on building resilience to natural hazards. She serves on the National Academies liquefaction committee, has been an advisor to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, to the 2013 FEMA-funded tsunami methodology development project and to the 2013 Oregon Resilience Plan, and has taken part in post-earthquake damage assessments including the 2011 Tohoku, Japan and 2010 Maule, Chile disasters.

Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, UO Portland, and the School of Architecture & Environment.

Stephanie Land’s bestselling debut memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive recounts her harrowing saga as a single mom navigating the poverty trap. Her unflinching and inspiring testimony exposes the physical, economic, and social brutality that domestic workers face, all while radiating a parent’s hope and resilience.

At age 28, Land’s dream of attending college and becoming a writer are deferred when a summer fling turns into an unplanned pregnancy. After facing domestic abuse, and lacking any form of reliable safety net, she checks into a homeless shelter with her 7-month-old daughter. She begins the bureaucratic nightmare of applying for food stamps and subsidized housing, and starts cleaning houses for $9/hour. Mired in patronizing government processes and paltry wages, Land illustrates the trauma of grasping for stability from a rigged system, and demonstrates how hard work doesn’t always pay off.

After years of barely scraping by, Land graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Montana in 2014, and started a career as a freelance writer. She writes about economic and social justice, domestic abuse, chronic illness, and motherhood, and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox, Salon, and many other outlets. She’s worked with Barbara Ehrenreich at the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and is a writing fellow at the Center for Community Change.

Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center’s Margaret Hallock Program for Women’s Rights. Cosponsored by the UO Division of Equity and Inclusion, Center for the Study of Women in Society, Department of Sociology, and Labor Education and Research Center.