by Kasey Cunningham

DTM Postdoctoral Fellow Ryan Porter has been named the first recipient of the Paul G. Silver Postdoctoral Fellowship in Seismology.

Established in honor of former DTM Staff Scientist Paul Silver, the fellowship is awarded to a geophysics fellow who exemplifies enthusiasm in researching the structure of Earth.

Silver was an international leader in understanding how earthquakes are triggered and how they interact with each other. The candidate for the fellowship must continue his or her scientific research with the enthusiasm and creativity Paul Silver had toward his work.

DTM Staff Scientist Matt Fouch, a former DTM postdoctoral fellow recruited by Silver, believes Ryan Porter has the qualifying characteristics.

“Ryan's current research involves seismic imaging of the western United States and regions of South America, two areas that Paul researched at a significant level during various periods of his career.  In his short time at DTM, Ryan has already shown significant creativity in his approach to developing new tools to image Earth’s interior,” says Fouch.

Silver’s wife Nathalie explains that the fellowship honors Paul’s strength and commitment in working with young scientists.

“Paul was extremely interested in working with young people. He was a good mentor. This fellowship will help bring new ideas and new blood to the Institution,” says Nathalie Valette-Silver.

Porter’s work is an elegant blend of efforts to tie a range of seismic imaging of the subsurface crust and mantle with others' studies of tectonic history divined from surface rocks via geologic and geochemical analyses.

“Ryan's multidisciplinary efforts in ‘structural geology of the subcontinental mantle', a term used frequently by Paul, is an important research approach that is helping us develop a better understanding of how seismic images of the deep Earth link to its geologic history,” says Fouch.

For more information or to donate to the Paul G. Silver Fellowship Fund please visit the Carnegie Institution of Washington Paul G. Silver Fellowship page.