David Applegate

senior science advisor, USGS

David Applegate is the senior science advisor for earthquake and geologic hazards at the USGS. In that capacity, he leads the Earthquake Hazards, Global Seismographic Network, and Geomagnetism Programs and coordinates geologic hazards activities across the USGS. He also chairs the National Science and Technology Council's interagency Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction. Applegate is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Utah's Department of Geology and Geophysics. Prior to joining USGS in 2004, he spent eight years at the American Geological Institute (AGI) as director of government affairs and, for the last four years there, as the editor of Geotimes, AGI's newsmagazine of the earth sciences. Before coming to AGI, Applegate served with the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as the American Geophysical Union's Congressional Science Fellow and as a professional staff member for the minority. Born and raised in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Applegate holds a B.S. in geology from Yale University and a Ph.D., also in geology, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.