In order to promote research collaboration with the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), USA, Professor Xiaodong Zhang, deputy director of Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration (IEF CEA), signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Professor John Vidale, director of Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) on September 8, 2018. The MOU was also signed by Mr. Amber Miller, dean of University of Southern California (USC) Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Scinces, and Mr. Anthony Bailey, vice president for Strategic and Global Initiatives USC, and was officially ratified by the Department for International Cooperation of CEA.

Both sides in this MOU agree to undertake research collaboration to develop mutual beneficial, creative, and productive academic activities in the fields of earthquake studies, earthquake forecasts and risk reduction.

The MOU was signed during the delegation’s attendance at the 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting, held during September 9-12, 2018 in Palm Springs, California. Moreover, the delegation led by Professor Zhang, consisted of Profs. Guojie Meng, Wuxing Wang and Wei Hua, also visited the USC, UCLA and Caltech.

In May, 2018, during the visit of Prof. Vidale to IEF, draft MOU was signed by Prof. Vidale and Prof. Zhongliang Wu, director of IEF.