Dave Jackson was the Chair of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was also a member of the Bureau of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.
Dave graduated in Physics at Caltech in 1965, followed by a PhD in geophysics at MIT in 1969. He was appointed Professor in Residence/Researcher at UCLA in 1969, then Assistant Professor in 1972, and he retired as a Distinguished Professor in 2011. He was Chair of the Department 2004-2008 and held a joint appointment in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, 2008-2011. He served as Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, 1996-1999. His expertise was sought after by numerous government and professional bodies.
Dave, along with Yan Kagan, led what is regarded as the foremost earthquake-statistics team, guided by a principle espoused in the title of his early article ‘Interpretation of Inaccurate, Insufficient, and Inconsistent Data.’
David served as Secretary of the U.S. National Committee of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), and on its Finance committee and set up a program for the IUGG General Assembly. He wrote the document used by member nations to request support from their governments. The U.S. National Committee selected him for the US representative on the Governing Bureau of IUGG.
