KRISTINA OKAMOTO

kkokamot@ucsc.edu |Santa Cruz, CA

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow April 2024
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Host: Lars Hansen

EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Earth Science Dec 2023
University of California, Santa Cruz

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Earth Science

with a Minor in Applied Mathematics June 2018
University of California, Santa Cruz
EXPERIENCE
Graduate Student Aug 2019 – Dec 2023
Earth Science Department, University of California Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, CA
• Presented general audience style talks at the Natural History Museum of Santa Cruz and to Rowan
University’s research colloquium
• Guest lectured on fluid dynamics for an Introductory to Geophysics class (required for the major)
• Mentored two undergraduate students in research of earthquake physics problems
• Co-mentored an undergraduate student with postdoctoral scholar Valère Lambert
• Developed and streamlined experimental protocols for running friction experiments in our triaxial
deformation apparatus

Graduate Student Aug 2018 – Aug 2019

Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York
• Completed geophysical and computational coursework
• Developed a direct shear setup for friction experiments that was used at Lamont and now at UCSC
• Completed friction experiments in a triaxial apparatus on Oklahoma rocks for my PhD work and Lake Elizabeth
rocks for a project with Randy Williams and co-authors, which is now published work

Undergraduate Research Assistant in Geophysics Jan 2017 - June 2018

Earth Science Department, UCSC – Santa Cruz, CA
• Analyzed fault roughness of the Mount Vettoretto Fault, which is now published work
• Helped analyze 100 m scale corrugations along the Costa Rican subduction megathrust using MATLAB with
graduate student Joel Edwards, which is now published work

Undergraduate Research Assistant in Paleobiology Jan 2015 – June 2018

Earth Science Department, UCSC– Santa Cruz, CA
• Twice presented research results of fossil nautilid and ammonite evolution at the annual meeting for the
Geological Society of America
• Presented a pecha kucha style talk for a general public audience on Cretaceous nautilids at UC Santa Cruz’s
Seymour Marine Discovery Center

RELEVANT TECHNICAL SKILLS

Languages Python, MATLAB
Other Unix/Linux, Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, Fusion 360, AutoCAD
AWARDS

NSF Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship ($180,000) Starting Spring 2024

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship ($134,000) Fall 2020
2x Smith Renaissance Society Research Fellowship ($1000 each) Spring 2016, Fall 2017
Hierarchical Research Systems Undergraduate Award ($1995) Spring 2017
Gunderson Family Research Award Spring 2016
GSA Onto the Future Travel Award Fall 2015

PUBLICATIONS

Okamoto, K. K., Savage, H. M., Cochran, E. S., & Keranen, K. M. (2022). Stress heterogeneity as a driver of
aseismic slip during the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma aftershock sequence. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid
Earth, 127, e2022JB024431.

Williams, R. T., Rowe, C. D., Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., & Eves, E. (2021). How Fault Rocks Form and
Evolve in the Shallow San Andreas Fault. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, e2021GC010092.

Okamoto, K. K., Brodsky, E., Thom, C., Smeraglia, L., & Billi, A. (2019). The minimum scale of grooving on
a recently ruptured limestone fault. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(21), 11878–11885.

Edwards, J. H., Kluesner, J. W., Silver, E. A., Brodsky, E. E., Brothers, D. S., Bangs, N. L., Kirkpatrick, J. D.,
Wood, R., & Okamoto, K. (2018). Corrugated megathrust revealed offshore from Costa Rica. Nature
Geoscience, 11(3), 197–202.

SELECTED CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., Brodsky, E. E., Cochran, E. S., Abercrombie, R. E., and Carpenter, B. M. (2023)
To heal or not to heal?: The moment-recurrence time behavior of repeating earthquakes in the 2011 Prague,
Oklahoma aftershock sequence is consistent with laboratory healing rates. American Geophysical Union Fall
Meeting Abstracts, S53A-09

Okamoto, K., Ryan, A. G., Savage, H. M., Hansen, L. N., & Dillman, A. M. (2023) Dislocation density as a
control on the frictional strength of fault gouge. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstracts, MR11A-
03

Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., Cochran, E. S., Brodsky, E. E., & Sullivan, J. (2022) Comparing fault healing in
laboratory experiments to repeating earthquakes: A case study of Prague, Oklahoma, U.S.A. (invited) American
Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstracts, T32A-01

Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., Cochran, E. S., & Keranen, K. M. (2021). Stress heterogeneity as a driver of
aseismic slip during the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma aftershock sequence. Penrose Conference: The Geological
Fingerprint of Slow Earthquakes

Lobos, D. A., Keranen, K. M., Savage, H. M., & Okamoto, K. (2019). Autodetection of microearthquakes in
Oklahoma during the Prague 2011 earthquake sequence. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2019, MR51C-0069.
Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., Keranen, K. M., Cochran, E. S., & Carpenter, B. M. (2020). The Role of
Lithology in Fault Re-Strengthening: A Case Study of the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma Induced Earthquake
Sequence. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2020, T002-0011.

Williams, R. T., Studnicky, C., Okamoto, K., Eves, E., Evans, J. P., Kirkpatrick, J. D., Rowe, C. D., & Savage,
H. (2020). Near-surface structure and mechanical properties of shallow seismogenic faults: Implications for
ground-motion simulations. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2020, S060-0006.

Okamoto, K., Savage, H. M., Keranen, K. M., & Carpenter, B. M. (2019). The Role of Lithology in Fault Re-
Strengthening: A Case Study of the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma Induced Earthquake Sequence. AGU Fall Meeting
Abstracts, 2019, T23D-0503.

Okamoto, K., Brodsky, E. E., & Billi, A. (2017). A test for the minimum scale of grooving on the Amatrice
and Norcia earthquakes. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2017, T41D-0654.