Joshua Russell
Syracuse University, NY·Earth & Environmental Science
Where do you build an instrument that must sense ripples in space-time smaller than an atomic nucleus, and how did the Atlantic Ocean first open up? Both questions turn on understanding the solid Earth: its shaking, its rock layers, and the hot mantle below.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Topics
Cosmic Explorer
gravitational waves
site selection
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Identify and screen candidate sites for the Cosmic Explorer gravitational-wave observatory using Geographic Information Systems (mapping software) and public data, then partner with Indigenous and local communities before assessing the sites.
- Carry out a full reference assessment at the Department of Energy Hanford area, home of LIGO Hanford Observatory, as a prototype process for evaluating Cosmic Explorer locations.
- Narrow 40 national candidate locations to a short list of 6 by combining fine-grained local suitability analysis with 'science per cost' estimates calibrated in U.S. dollars.
- Measure seismicity (earthquake activity), geology and environmental noise at promising sites to judge whether they can host a 40 km interferometer, and report the results to guide NSF site selection.
- Determine how oceanic crust thickness, composition and roughness changed over the first ~50 million years of Atlantic seafloor spreading, using multichannel seismic and ocean bottom seismometer profiles off Eastern North America.
- Infer how the asthenosphere (soft upper mantle) flowed and how its temperature and chemistry evolved, by analyzing seismic anisotropy from mantle refractions and ambient-noise surface waves and combining it with petrological melting models.
More about the research
The grants here cover two threads. One helps choose a location for Cosmic Explorer, a planned U.S. gravitational-wave observatory. The other is a seismic study of the young Atlantic seafloor.
Why it matters
Choosing the right site could help Cosmic Explorer meet its science goals, stay within cost and work well with its host communities, including Indigenous communities. The siting work also builds methods for placing other very large, very sensitive instruments in the United States. The Atlantic seismic survey fills a gap between existing datasets on the continental margin and on mature seafloor, improving basic understanding of how ocean basins form in plate tectonics.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: Preparing for Cosmic Explorer Site Selection
NSF · Aug 2026 – Jul 2028
Collaborative Research: A seismic experiment to investigate mantle dynamics during the early stages of seafloor spreading in the Atlantic
NSF · Nov 2024 – Oct 2027
Collaborative Research: Identifying and Evaluating Sites for Cosmic Explorer
NSF · Aug 2023 – Jul 2027
Closest labs
Brandon Shuck
Louisiana State University, LA·Earth & Environmental Science
Measure how the thickness, composition and basement roughness of oceanic crust changed over the first ~50 million years of Atlantic seafloor spreading, using multichannel seismic and ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) profiles.
Zachary Eilon
University of California-Santa Barbara, CA·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Test predicted signatures of dynamic upwelling beneath mid-ocean ridges using surface- and body-wave tomography from roughly 80 ocean-bottom seismometers deployed across the Pacific-Cocos and Cocos-Nazca spreading centers.
Maureen Long
Yale University, CT·Earth & Environmental Science
Image the New England crust at high resolution using hundreds of nodal seismometers spaced 500 m apart, analyzing both distant earthquake waves and background seismic noise to reveal how supercontinent cycles and mountain-building shaped it.
The school
Syracuse University: 13 labs on PI Pages, $199M a year on research, 168 research doctorates a year.
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