Andrea Donnellan is the Principal Investigator of the QuakeSim project. She is also a research professor at the University of Southern California. Donnellan uses GPS and InSAR satellite technology coupled with high performance computer models to study earthquakes, plate tectonics, and the corresponding movements of the earth's crust. She has been a geophysicist at JPL since 1993. She received a bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University in 1986, with a geology major and mathematics minor. She received her master's and Ph.D. in geophysics from Caltech's Seismological Laboratory in 1988 and 1991 respectively. Donnellan received an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in 2003.

• B.S., Geology, Ohio State University, with honors and distinction in geology (1986)
• M.S., Geophysics, California Institute of Technology (1988)
• Ph.D., Geophysics, California Institute of Technology (1991)
• M.S., Computer Science, University of Southern California (2003)

• Natural hazard assessment using GPS and InSAR space technologies, and numerical modeling.
• Pattern analysis of geodetic and seismic time series to understand the underlying dynamics of complex earthquake fault systems.
• Numerical modeling to estimate the rheology of the crust, and fault characteristics and interactions using viscoelastic finite element and analytic elastic models.
• Collection and interpretation of GPS data with incorporation of InSAR data to study plate tectonics crustal deformation, and the earthquake cycle.

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1993-present)
  • IQuakeSim Principal Investigator (2000–present)
  • InSAR/DESDynI Study Scientist (2005–present)
  • Deputy Manager, Science Division (2002-2006)
  • Deputy Manger, Exploration Systems Autonomy Section (2000-2002)
  • Supervisor, Data Understanding Systems Group (1999-2001)
  • Research Scientist, Satellite Geodesy and Geodynamics Systems Group (1997-1999)
• Research Professor, Department of Earth Science, University of Southern California (1999-present)
• Visiting Associate, Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (1995-1996)
• National Research Council Resident Research Associate, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (1991-1993)

• MUSES California Science Center Foundation, Woman of the Year (2006)
• 2005 NASA Space Act Award - QuakeSim - NASA Tech Brief NPO 41079
• 2005 NASA Space Act Award - Simplex - NASA Tech Brief NPO 41078
• NASA Space Act Award for GeoFESTv.4.3 finite element software
• 2003 Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award (2003)
• JPL Lew Allen Award for Excellence (2000)
• Southern California Earthquake Center Outreach Award for Education (1988)
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1996)
• National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (1991-1993)

1. Donnellan, A., H. Zebker, K.J. Ranson, Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI), EOS, Trans. Am. Geophys. Un., 89, 349–350, 2008.
2. Tralli, D.M., R.G. Blom, E.J. Fielding, A. Donnellan, Conceptual case for assimilating interferometric synthetic aperture radar data into the HAZUS-MH earthquake module, IEEE Trans. of Geosci. and Remote Sensing, 45, 1595–1604, 2007.
3. Donnellan, A., J. Rundle, G. Fox, D. McLeod, L. Grant, T. Tullis, M. Pierce, J. Parker, G. Lyzenga, R. Granat, M. Glasscoe, QuakeSim and the Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory, PAGEOPH, 163, 2263–2279 2006.
4. Aktas, M., Aydin, G., Donnellan, A., Fox, G., Granat, R., Grant, L., Lyzenga, G., McLeod, D., Pallickara, S., Parker, J., Pierce, M., Rundle, J., Sayar, A., Tullis, T., ISERVO: Implementing the International Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory by integrating computational grid and geographical information Web Services, PAGEOPH, 163, 2281–2296, 2006.
5. Grant L.B., A. Donnellan, D. McLeod, M. Pierce, G.C. Fox, A.Y. Chen, M.M. Gould1, S.S. Sung, P.B. Rundle, A Web-Service Based Universal Approach to Heterogeneous Fault Databases, Computing in Science and Engineering Special Issue on Multi-Physics Modeling, 7, 51–57, 2005.
6. Rundle, J.B., P.B. Rundle, A. Donnellan, P. Li, W. Klein, G. Morein, D.L. Turcotte, L. Grant, Stress transfer in earthquakes, hazard estimation and ensemble forecasting: Inferences from numerical simulations, Tectonophysics, 413, 109–125, 2006.
7. Donnellan, A., and B. Luyendyk, GPS Evidence for a Coherent Plate and for Postglacial Rebound in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, Global and Planetary Change, 42, 305–311, 2004.
8. Donnellan, A., J. Rundle, J. Ries, G. Fox, M. Pierce, J. Parker, R. Crippen, E. DeJong, B. Chao, W. Kuang, D. McLeod, M. Mastu’ura, J. Bloxham, Illuminating the Earth’s Interior Through Advanced Computing, Computing in Science and Engineering (CiSE), 6, 36-44, 2004.
9. Donnellan, A., J. Parker, and G. Peltzer, Combined GPS and InSAR models of postseismic deformation from the Northridge earthquake, PAGEOPH, 2261–2270, 2002.
10. Donnellan, A., B. H. Hager, and R. W. King, Discrepancy between geologic and geodetic deformation rates in the Ventura basin, Nature, 366, 333–336, 1993.