Monica Kohler

Monica D. Kohler

Senior Research Fellow in Mechanical and Civil Engineering

Office:
Dept. of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
229 Thomas Bldg., M/C 104-44
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone: (626) 395-4142
kohler_at_caltech_dot_edu

Education

Harvard University, B.A., 1988
California Institute of Technology, Ph.D., 1995

Research Interests

Investigation of the wave propagation response of civil structures through observational and numerical experiments.

Computing impulse response functions of the moment-frame UCLA Factor building using local earthquakes recorded on its 72-channel embedded strong-motion seismic array and simulations with a finite-element model of the building.
Developing and testing a new, high-frequency method of detecting a failure event in engineered structures that uses the properties of reciprocity and time-reversed reciprocal Green's functions.
Computing impulse response functions of a long-span, cable-supported suspension bridge with laterally varying excitation due to regional earthquakes.

Development of ShakeNet, a wireless Stargate-mote, tiered, seismic structural network that can be deployed on civil structures with no existing infrastructure for monitoring structural state of health.

3D seismic tomographic modeling of crustal and mantle lithosphere beneath young transpressional plate boundary systems with application to the Transverse Ranges in southern California, and the Southern Alps in South Island, New Zealand.

Managed a 12-month deployment of ocean bottom seismometers off the coast of southern California in 2010-2011 to study local seismicity, upper mantle seismic structure, and tsunami wave propagation.
Relating plate boundary dynamics below southern California to lateral variations in San Andreas fault geometry.

Structural monitoring through community participation in the Community Seismic Network project that involves members of the community who host small, inexpensive seismometers in order to achieve deployments of tens of thousands of sensors in seismically active regions..