Even the best earthquake early warning systems will give you only five to eight seconds of notice before you experience ground shaking. This week, Jonathan and geotechnical engineer Ashly Cabas take more than an hour exploring seismic waves, soils, risk assessment, and other earthquake fundamentals so that you can be prepared in the event of a natural hazard.

Ashly Cabas, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU), where she investigates seismic hazards and earthquake effects on civil infrastructure.

Her team at NCSU collaborates with seismologists, geologists, and structural engineers to understand how the response of soils and rocks to earthquake loading can influence the damaging potential of earthquakes.

Her research group’s work has also been recognized with EERI best paper awards in 2014 and 2018, and she has served in reconnaissance missions after the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake, and more recently the 2021 M7.2 Nippes, Haiti earthquake.