UC Berkeley • Junior Undergraduate • May 2027
I’m an undergraduate researcher working on active tectonics, fault damage evolution, and AI-supported microstructural analysis. I’m interested in research opportunities and roles at the intersection of geophysics, computation, and data-driven modeling.
Current focus areas and methods.
Investigating microscale and mesoscale temporal evolution of fault damage zones as part of the Active Tectonics group at UC Berkeley.
Methods: Digital Image Correlation (DIC), data analysis, figure production
Since: Jan 2024
Introduced AI-supported models for microstructural analysis of co-seismic fault damage generation. Implemented a Bi-Directional Cascade Network in Python for object edge detection in thin sections.
Tech: Python, PyTorch
When: May–Jul 2025
Built a functional infrasound multi-sensor array detection system and researched volcano interconnectivity using radar satellite imagery.
Tools: sensing systems, radar satellite imagery workflows
When: May–Jun 2024
Peer-reviewed and in-review work.
Smith, Z., Bürgmann, R., Waligora, F., et al. — Under review at Geology.
Contributions: conducted data analysis and produced figures for the manuscript.
Research, teaching, and presentation experience.
URAP Researcher — UC Berkeley
Jan 2024 – Present
URAP Summer Researcher — UC Berkeley
May – Jul 2025
Reader (TA support) — EPS 7 Intro to Climate Change
May – Jul 2025
Presenter — Geological Society of America (GSA)
Sep 2024 • Anaheim
Intern — European Center for Geodynamics and Seismology (ECGS)
May – Jun 2024 • Luxembourg
Student org leadership, community building, and competitions.
Aug 2025 – Present
Founded an academic organization petitioning to become the only local student chapter of the American Meteorological Society in the Bay Area.
Aug 2025 – Present
Planned and led weekly meetings (~30 people) and organized outings and weekend trips.
Aug 2023 – Present
Managed club funds, organized weekly meetings, and coordinated an annual science conference (~100 participants), including high-level guests.
Oct 2025
Selected for NOAA Satellites Hackathon; worked in a team to develop a Wildfire Awareness project using NOAA tools/software.
Technical tools and languages.
Best way to reach me: email. I’m happy to share writing samples, posters, or code on request.