The Tsunami Research Center (TRC) was founded in 1995 at USC by Professor Costas Synolakis. The TRC has conducted over 30 post event surveys and has developed the official tsunami inundation maps for California. The Center is involved in government sponsored research on tectonic and landslide tsunamis, and in consulting contracts evaluating tsunami hazards and risk quantification. In our work, we use the computational suite MOST. used by NOAA for real time tsunami forecasts around the world. MOST was developed at USC and is the only code internationally to meet all the standards and guidelines for inundation mapping and hazard evaluation of nuclear power plants.
While they try, the TRC staff can not always answer the telephone, as the Department of Civil Engineering does not provide secretarial support. If you contact us via email and you don’t get a response within two days, please try again. If this is a media request, please also try emailing our press officer Eric Mankin, mankin@usc.edu, (213) 821-1887. If this is a student request, please use the information at http://www.usc.edu/dept/civil_eng/dept/chair.html
If this is a post-doc request, please email both Professors Synolakis or Barberopoulou and include a CV in PDF. If your request is for consulting services, we specialize in siting and tsunami hazard assessment studies for LNG facilities, inundation mapping, harbor resonance, reservoir seiching and sloshing and uncertainty quantification.
Our address is
Tsunami Research Center, Department of Civil Engineering
3620 South Vermont Avenue, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-2531
Telephone +1 (213) 740 5129, Fax (213) 744 1426
You can leave a message for Professors Synolakis, Barberopoulou or Borrero at (213) 740 0603.
The faculty of the Tsunami Research Center
Professor Costas Synolakis
Director, Tsunami Research Center
(Same address as the TRC)
Telephone +1 (213) 740-5129 or +1 (213) 740-0603
Email-> costas@usc.edu
Research Assistant Professor Aggeliki Barberopoulou
Email-> barberop@usc.edu
Research Assistant Professor Jose Borrero
Email-> jborrero@usc.edu
Dr. Christophe Ruscher
Email-> ruscher@usc.edu
For seismic hazard assessment and siting studies, we collaborate with
Professor Emile Okal
Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208-2150
Telephone: +1 (847) 491-3238, fax: +1 (847) 491-8060
http://www.earth.northwestern.edu/people/emile/
For socioeconomic impact and $$$ assessment studies we collaborate with
Professor Jim Moore
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-0193
Telephone +1 (213) 740-4893, Fax +1 (213) 740-1120
Email -> jmoore@usc.edu