JAMES C PECHMANN portrait
  • Research Associate Professor Emeritus, Geology & Geophysics
801-581-3858

Professional Service

  • Utah Geological Survey. Role: Member. Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities (reactivated). 10/23/2020 - present
  • Utah Geological Survey. Role: Member. Utah Quaternary Fault Parameters Working Group. 2003 - present
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 02/01/2023 - 02/10/2023
  • Utah Geological Survey. Member of the Program Committee for the 2022 Basin and Range Earthquake Summit, and co-organizer of two half-day seismology sessions. 08/2019 - 11/2022
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 07/07/2022 - 07/20/2022
  • Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. Co-organizer of a special session on the 2020 Magna, Utah, earthquake, 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, June 27 - July 1, 2022, Salt Lake City, Utah. 08/2021 - 07/2022
  • Lettis Consultants International. Role: Paid consultant. Resource expert for seismic hazard analyses of four potential sites in Wyoming for Natrium Demonstration Project nuclear reactors. 04/05/2022 - 04/25/2022
  • Proceedings of the 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Reviewer. 01/31/2022 - 02/01/2022
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 10/30/2020 - 11/02/2020
  • National Science Foundation. Reviewer. 10/06/2020 - 10/07/2020
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 05/2019 - 05/2019
  • Journal of Geophysical Research. Reviewer. 01/2019 - 02/2019
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 12/23/2018 - 12/31/2018
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 04/24/2018 - 05/04/2018
  • National Science Foundation. Reviewer. 04/19/2018 - 04/21/2018
  • Utah Geological Survey. Role: Member. Utah Ground Shaking Working Group. 04/2003 - 03/2018
  • Seismological Research Letters. Reviewer. 11/24/2017 - 12/16/2017
  • National Science Foundation. Reviewer. 03/30/2017 - 04/03/2017
  • Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Reviewer. 11/06/2016 - 11/15/2016
  • National Science Foundation. Reviewer. 03/16/2016 - 03/19/2016
  • Utah Geological Survey. Role: Member. Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities. 02/10/2010 - 06/30/2016
  • AECOM Technology Corporation. Role: Paid consultant. Review of a seismic hazard analysis for Millsite Dam, Utah. 02/06/2016 - 03/19/2016
  • Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Reviewer (two submissions of the same paper). 02/23/2015 - 06/03/2015
  • Utah Geological Survey and Western States Seismic Policy Council. Member of the program committee for the January 12-17, 2015, Basin and Range Province Seismic Hazards Summit III, and primary organizer of the session on "Ground Motions from Normal-Faulting Earthquakes". 06/18/2013 - 01/17/2015
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture. Review of a deterministic seismic hazard analysis for the Silver Lake Flat Dam in Utah. 06/17/2014 - 06/18/2014
  • Seismological Society of America. Role: Member. Program Committee, 2013 Annual Meeting. 06/2012 - 05/2013
  • Earthquake Spectra. Reviewer. 06/18/2012 - 06/25/2012
  • Fugro Consultants, Inc. Role: Paid Consultant. Participatory Peer Review Panel for a Senior Seismic Hazard Analysis Committee (SSHAC) Level 3 seismic hazard analysis for the proposed Blue Castle nuclear power plant near Green River, Utah. 08/2011 - 06/2012
  • Western States Seismic Policy Council. Role: Member and Discussion Leader. Basin and Range Province Earthquake Working Group II. 10/01/2011 - 01/31/2012

Internal Service

  • Faculty Merit Review Committee. Member, 07/2022 - 06/2023. Department service.
  • Diversity and Climate Committee. Member, 07/2020 - 06/2021. Department service.
  • Graduate Affairs Committee. Member, 07/2019 - 06/2020. Department service.
  • College Council. Member, 10/2018 - 08/2022. College service.
  • Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Proposal reviewer, 12/09/2015 - 12/10/2015. University service.
  • Executive Committee. 08/01/2014 - 07/31/2015. Department service.
  • Frederick Albert Sutton Building Design Committee. Member, 12/2005 - 11/2009. College service.

Community Partnership

  • Co-authorship of a short article for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Caldera Chronicles about earthquake magnitudes (with D. Shelly and J. Farrell). 10/2020 - 10/2020
  • Lead Seismograph Stations tour guide for a Department of Geology and Geophysics Open House. 10/18/2019 - 10/18/2019
  • Gave a talk at the Bluffdale Preparedness Fair on “Utah Seismicity and the 2019 Bluffdale Earthquakes” and also helped man the Utah Geological Survey booth at this event. 04/27/2019 - 04/27/2019
  • Helped conduct Seismograph Stations tours for participants in the 2019 National Earthquake Program Managers Meeting . 04/24/2019 - 04/24/2019
  • Lead Seismograph Stations tour guide for a Department of Geology and Geophysics Open House and for the Sutton Building 10th Anniversary Celebration. 04/05/2019 - 04/06/2019
  • Assisted a homeowner with his monitoring of the nearby Riverdale, Utah, landslide with a personal seismograph. 04/18/2018 - 07/23/2018
  • Gave a talk to the Structural Engineers Association of Utah Seismic Committee on "Ground Motion Predictions from 0-10 Hz for M 7 Earthquakes on the Salt Lake City Segment of the Wasatch fault, Utah.". 04/17/2018 - 04/17/2018
  • Served as a Seismograph Stations tour guide for a Department of Geology and Geophysics Open House. 04/06/2018 - 04/06/2018
  • Provided information for, and reviews of, an earthquake hazards display for the new University of Utah Crocker Science Building. 11/06/2017 - 01/09/2018
  • Helped prepare and staff a University of Utah Seismograph Stations booth at the Utah Prepare Conference and Expo, September 8-9, 2017. 08/28/2017 - 09/08/2017
  • Served as a Seismograph Stations tour guide for a Department of Geology and Geophysics Open House. 04/07/2017 - 04/07/2017
  • Served as a panelist and workbook contributor for a panel discussion on "Earthquakes: Public Perception vs. Reality" at the Utah Earthquake Resiliency Workshop, April 27, 2016, organized by the Utah Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. 03/22/2016 - 04/27/2016
  • Helped staff a University of Utah Seismograph Stations table at the Natural History Museum of Utah's Preparedness Fair. 09/28/2013 - 09/28/2013
  • Discussion of "NOVA: Japan's Killer Quake," a talk at the Natural History Museum of Utah Science Movie Night. 06/11/2013 - 06/11/2013
  • Informal discussions with the public about my seismic hazards research as an invited guest expert at the VIP opening of the "Nature Unleashed" exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah. 05/23/2013 - 05/23/2013
  • Gave an talk on "How Strong Will the Ground Shaking Be During the 'Big One' --and Other Future Earthquakes" at Utah Earthquakes and You--It's Personal, Seismological Society of America Town Hall Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT. 04/17/2013 - 04/17/2013
  • Gave a talk on 04/19/2011 to the Dept. of Family and Preventative Medicine on "Earthquake Hazards in Utah". 04/19/2011 - 04/19/2011

In the Media

  • Interview with Temblor Earthquake News about Wasatch Front earthquake hazards. 11/10/2022.
  • A news media interview about a felt aftershock of the 2020 M 5.7 Magna, Utah, earthquake. 02/21/2021.
  • Six news media interviews during 2020 about earthquakes and earthquake hazards in Utah, Colorado, and Idaho. 01/01/2020.
  • At least eleven media interviews during 2019 about earthquakes and earthquake hazards in Utah, Colorado, and California, and one about the 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine collapse. 01/01/2019.
  • At least two media interviews during 2018 about earthquakes and earthquake hazards in Utah and Idaho, plus an interview about a landslide in Riverdale, Utah. 01/01/2018.
  • At least seven news media interviews during 2017 about earthquakes and earthquake hazards in Utah, plus one interview about the 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine collapse. 01/01/2017.