Two Universities Join IRIS as Foreign Affiliate Members

IRIS is pleased to welcome two new Foreign Affiliates during May, the University of Oxford and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The University of Oxford has been a center of world class research in Earth sciences literally for centuries. Today, professors in the Department of Earth Sciences with international reputations for outstanding research in seismology and related fields include John Woodhouse, Shamita Das, Tony Watts, Barry Parsons, Bernard Woods, and Phillip England. Reflecting widespread collaboration between Earth scientists in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford joins seven other British institutions that are IRIS Foreign Affiliates.

The Tokyo Institute of Technology is a top national university for science and technology in Japan with a history spanning more than 130 years, and currently is educating approximately 5,000 graduate students and 5,000 undergraduates. The Institute's international reputation in Earth science research is growing quickly since the establishment of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) in December 2012 with funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. ELSI aims to become a globally competitive center that attracts the best scientists from around the world to come work in Japan. ELSI faculty doing research in seismology and related fields include Christine Houser and George Helffrich. The Tokyo Institute of Technology joins the University of Tokyo as the second IRIS Foreign Affiliate in Japan.