The 2013 Seismic Instrumentation Technology Symposium (SITS) was held in Albuquerque, NM on June 10th and 11th, 2013.  The well-attended symposium provided a splendid opportunity for members of the seismic community to exchange knowledge on instrumentation, as well as on novel approaches for improving the usefulness of data.

The next Seismic Instrumentation Technology Symposium (ITS2013) will be held in Albuquerque, NM on June 10th and 11th, 2013, at the Sheraton Albuquerque Airport Hotel.

The IRIS website has a page for the conference, with the agenda, participants, and registration form.

The theme of this symposium is to examine future technology, both from the perspective of capabilities scientists and engineers are seeking and the technologies that are, or will be, in the product pipeline of the seismic technology industry. The symposium will provide a forum for perspectives from both technology users and vendors and allow generous time for discussion and interaction.

On Friday, February 22nd, New Mexico's newest member of the United States Senate, Martin Heinrich, paid a visit to New Mexico Tech, and the IRIS/PASSCAL Instrument Center. Senator Heinrich, who won his seat in the 2012 general election, is a strong advocate for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education, and is the only engineer currently serving in the senate.

Senator Heinrich was given an overview of activities at the school by New Mexico Tech President Dr. Dan Lopez, and also toured the Mechanical Engineering Department.  Dr. Rick Aster escorted Sen. Heinrich on a tour of the PASSCAL Instrument Center, the world’s largest and the nation’s flagship federally-funded lending library of seismology equipment.

In addition to loaning and maintaining devices from the instrument pool, and providing vital assistance to PIs in the field, PASSCAL also trains PIs and their colleagues at our facility in Socorro, New Mexico.  These training sessions can be intense, and typically last three days. The instruction is focused on the specific technical areas requested by PIs (such as data archival methods, or mastering the intricacies of specific sensors).

Training is important for both novice and well-seasoned PIs.  It provides hands-on interaction with the many types of instrumentation, software, and data handling that PASSCAL supplies, as well as the opportunity to ask questions that normally wouldn't come up until the PI is deploying equipment in the field.  Training at PASSCAL provides PIs with the opportunity to have their questions answered immediately by our on-site knowledgeable staff.