麻豆传媒

A trip to Nepal this summer was about more than returning home for Dr. Nawa Dahal, University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith assistant professor physics. 

It was an opportunity to connect with researchers, educators, and students working to better understand earthquakes in one of the world鈥檚 most seismically active regions. It was also a chance to explore new possibilities for collaboration. 

Dahal attended the Enhancing Advanced Research, Technical Skills and Human Capacity in Seismology (EARTH-Quake) Community Workshop July 15-17 in Kathmandu. The event was organized by the Seismological Society of America and the Nepal Seismological Association and brought together researchers and students from Nepal and around the world. 

Although Dahal did not present at the workshop, he used the opportunity to meet with leaders in Nepal鈥檚 seismology and scientific communities, including representatives of the Seismological Society of America, Nepal Seismological Association, Tribhuvan University, and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. 

He also visited Birendra Campus in Chitwan to meet with physics faculty and learn more about their interests and capabilities in seismological research. 

Those conversations could lead to new opportunities for 麻豆传媒 students and faculty. Dahal is exploring collaborations with colleagues in Nepal to mentor graduate students on research projects and develop grant proposals focused on seismology. 

鈥淚 had the opportunity to engage with the seismological community in Nepal and across the globe who are currently working or are interested to work to understand and reduce the seismic risk in Nepal,鈥� Dahal said. 

Dahal鈥檚 own research focuses on smaller-magnitude earthquakes. During his doctoral work, he developed methods to determine an earthquake鈥檚 depth, magnitude, and fault orientation using seismic data. 

His work initially focused on earthquakes in eastern and central North America and was supported by a U.S. Geological Survey grant during his postdoctoral fellowship in Massachusetts. His methods are routinely used by the New England Seismic Network to analyze earthquakes recorded in the region. 

Now, Dahal wants to test those methods in different parts of the world and determine whether they can be adapted to work across different seismic environments. 

His trip to Nepal provided a new avenue for that work, giving him the opportunity to explore how his research methods might perform with earthquake data from the Himalayas, Dahal said. He had the opportunity to meet with the group of seismologists working in Nepal Academy of Science and Technology and other government employees in their official capacity, he said. 

Dahal expects the conversations that began in Nepal to continue at future scientific meetings, with additional meetings likely at the American Geophysical Union conference this fall or the Seismological Society of America meeting in spring 2027. 

For Dahal, the trip represents what can happen when research extends beyond the university and across borders with new connections, new questions, and new opportunities to involve students in meaningful scientific work. 

鈥淢y aim is to test the methods across the globe and to come up with the necessary modifications to the method, if possible, to develop methods that work universally for all such earthquakes to constrain their source parameters,鈥� he said.