Jean-Philippe Avouac is the Earle C. Anthony Professor of Geology and of Mechanical and Civil Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and director of the NSF center for Geomechanics and the Mitigation of Geohazards. Jean-Philippe Avouac studies crustal deformation, earthquakes in particular, and geomorphic processes. He has contributed to method developments in remote sensing, geodesy, geomorphology and seismology.