Hi! My name is Tara Nye.  I grew up in Social Circle, Georgia, went to Brigham Young University for my undergrad, and have been an Earth Sciences Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon since 2019.  I work with Valerie Sahakian as part of the Earthquake Hazards Group. I’m a seismologist, and my research currently focuses on earthquake source processes, seismic hazards, and ground-motion models, but I enjoy learning about anything earthquake-related!  I was always interested in science, but during my freshman year of college, I watched the movie San Andreas (the earthquake disaster movie with Dwayne Johnson), and just knew that this was what I wanted to do.  In the back of my mind, I always assumed I would eventually change my mind and would find a new area of Earth science that interested me, but I never did.  Earthquakes are still my passion, and I look forward to sharing my passion with the world.

 

When I’m not in school, I enjoy a variety of things.  I love all kinds of dancing!  Over the years I’ve tried out standard ballroom, Latin ballroom, clogging, tap, Irish, country swing, and Polynesian dance.  I also enjoy going on adventures and exploring nature.  Utah and Oregon both have some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen…but they are vastly different from each other.  When I was younger, I was scared of everything.  I hated living in anxiety and fear, but I eventually decided to change that when I got to college.  My motto became “If it makes you uncomfortable or scared…do it (within reason)”.  That’s probably why I’m in grad school now.  Life is scary, but it is also full of many exciting adventures.  You just have to have the courage to step out of your comfort zone and jump into the unknown.