In-Person Meeting

2026 SZ4D Science Community Meeting

April 20-22, 2026

preceded by an Early Career Symposium

Marriott Long Beach Downtown, Long Beach, California

Objectives

A 3-day meeting to connect disciplines and facilitate collaborations across the geohazards community to advance subduction zone science

Agenda

Join us for a 3-day, in-person meeting designed to innovate, break down disciplinary silos, and foster collaborative connections across the community studying geohazards that converge at subduction zones. A primary goal of this event is to catalyze new collaborations and stimulate proposal development aligned with the SZ4D implementation plan.

This event emphasizes crossing traditional boundaries in magmatism, tectonism, and landscape research to build a multihazard understanding. Come prepared to share ideas, form new collaborations within and outside your discipline, and actively participate in shaping the future of interdisciplinary geoscience.

The meeting will focus on subduction zone geohazards, emphasizing interactions between earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic mass flow, and tsunamis. The multihazard science will be supported by:

Active Participation | Come ready to engage, collaborate, and connect.
Pre-workshop Networking & Preparation Opportunities | Make new contacts via science matchmaking, share your research story, and submit extended abstracts prior to the meeting.
Interdisciplinary Proposal Brainstorming | Participate in breakout groups to discuss ideas, develop new projects, and build cross-cutting collaborative networks.

Key Information

Open to all career stages and international participants
No registration cost, ice breaker, lunches, and coffee breaks are included
Travel grants available via the application form
In-person only - keynotes and select materials will be recorded and shared on the SZ4D YouTube channel
Participants traveling from outside the United States: Please note current U.S. visa processing timelines and plan accordingly.

Event Details

The meeting will take place at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in Long Beach, California, April 20-22, 2026, and will accommodate 150 participants. An Early-Career Researcher event will take place immediately preceding the meeting, on April 19. An optional two-day field trip to explore the geology of Catalina Island is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22, through Friday, April 24, after the conclusion of the meeting. Space is limited, and participation may be determined through a lottery selection process. Participants will be responsible for covering their field trip expenses. You may indicate your interest in joining the field trip through the application form.

Submit your research abstract or graphical slide

As part of the meeting activities, all participants are invited to share their work by presenting a research poster, a future research idea, or both.

Poster presenters must submit a research abstract (~200 words).
Participants sharing a future research idea may submit either a short summary (~200 words) or a one-page graphical slide.

Your submission should present a collaborative research idea or highlight past, ongoing, or future research relevant to the SZ4D community. These contributions will help spark discussions and support the development of new collaborations during the meeting.

Abstract submissions are now closed

Note: Each participant may submit one poster abstract and/or one research idea. To submit both, please complete the form separately for each submission.

Poster

Poster boards

Poster boards are landscape (4 ft high × 6 ft wide). Posters must fit within these dimensions. Push pins will be available on site.

Poster printing

Please note that SZ4D does not cover poster printing. Participants are responsible for printing and bringing their posters.

For your convenience, here is a list of printing vendors located near the meeting venue.

Poster sessions

Two poster sessions will take place during the plenary meeting, on Monday and Tuesday. Participants will also have the opportunity to advertise their posters during the lightning talks. See detailed agenda below.

Transportation & Parking

The meeting takes place at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in Long Beach, California.

Long Beach Marriott Downtown

111 E Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802

+1 562-437-5900 www.marriott.com

Browse the map of the area for airports, freeways, meeting location, and nearby restaurants.

from the airport

The closest airport is Long Beach Airport, located about 15 minutes from the convention center by taxi or rideshare.

Participants flying into Los Angeles International Airport should plan for approximately 35–50 minutes of travel time by car or shuttle, depending on traffic.

Ground transportation options

Taxi or rideshare (Uber/Lyft) are readily available from both airports. You can also check our rideshare buddy spreadsheet to coordinate shared rides with other meeting participants (coming soon)
Public transportation is available but typically takes longer than rideshare or taxi options.

Driving

Driving Directions to Meeting: 405 Fwy Northbound

Take exit 23 onto CA-22 West

Turn left onto Alamitos Ave.

Turn right onto E. Ocean Blvd.

The destination is on the right side.

Parking at Long Beach Marriott Downtown is $45 per day

Driving Directions to Meeting: 405 Fwy Southbound

Take the exit for I-710 south

Exit left to west Sixth St.

Turn right onto Long Beach Blvd.

Turn right onto E Ocean Blvd.

The destination is on the right side.

Parking at Long Beach Marriott Downtown is $45 per day.

Code of Conduct

SZ4D is committed to fostering the exchange of ideas and is dedicated to maintaining a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all participants, no matter their function or their background. This includes respectful treatment of everyone. By participating in an SZ4D event, attendees agree to abide by our codes of conduct.

Read the SZ4D Code of Conduct.

Evaluation

This SZ4D meeting is designed to be interactive and innovative, with participation limited to 150 attendees. Because interest is expected to be high, an evaluation committee will review each application individually using a pre-established rubric to ensure balanced representation across scientific interests (landscapes/seascapes, magmatic drivers, or faulting/earthquakes), as well as geographic representation, and career stage.

Successful applicants have been notified in February.

Organizers

Sean Gallen (Colorado State University) - Program Co-Chair

Hiroko Kitajima (Texas A&M University) - Program Co-Chair

Kristin Morell (UC Santa Barbara) - Program Co-Chair

Behrooz Ferdowsi (University of Houston)

Anaïs Férot (UC Santa Cruz)

Jeffrey Johnson (Boise State University)

Demian Saffer (UTIG)

ECR Organizers:

Behrooz Ferdowsi (University of Houston)

Jeff Beeson (Oregon State University)

Field Trip Organizers:

Cailey Condit (University of Washington)

Peter Lindquist (University of Washington)

Agenda

Early-Career Symposium

Catalina Island Field Trip

Draft agenda - last update April 1, 2026

DAY 0 - SUNDAY APRIL 19, 2026

check-in, poster set-up, SZNet Coordinating Committee Meeting and Early Career Symposium

In a nutshell:

8AM-5PM | Check-in Desk (Promenade Atrium, First Floor & Farrell, Second Floor)

12-5PM | Early-Career Researcher Symposium (Bixby Room, Second Floor)

12-5PM | SZNet Coordinating Committee Meeting (Broadlind Room, Second Floor)

6-9PM | Icebreaker (Poster Hall Pike Room & Promenade, First Floor)

1-9PM | Poster set-up (Poster Hall Pike Room, First Floor)

Early-Career Researcher Symposium

Conveners: Jeff Beeson and Behrooz Ferdowsi

Bixby Room (Second Floor)

12-1PM | Networking Lunch

An opportunity to connect with senior scientists and ask questions - ranging from navigating the job search and funding opportunities to broader topics such as scientific collaboration and professional development.

Thank you to our Mentors: Donna Shillington, Diana Roman, Joan Gomberg, Jeff Beeson, Behrooz Ferdowsi

1-1:15PM | Welcome and introduction | Jeff Beeson and Behrooz Ferdowsi

1:15-2:30PM | ECR Collective Meeting Report | Jeff Beeson and Behrooz Ferdowsi

Instructions
- One pager
- Co-author agreement
Group work
Report back

2:30-3PM | Lightning Talk Session

1min/1-2 slides. Interested participants should upload their slides by 10AM PT on Sunday

3-3:30PM | Coffee Break

3:30-5PM | From Idea to Submission: Navigating an Interdisciplinary Proposal from A to Z

Title TBD | Donna Shillington
Title TBD | Terry Plank
Beyond NSF: Alternative Funding Pathways for Early-Career Earth and Ocean Science | Jeff Beeson

I will share a short overview of my experience pursuing and presenting non-NSF funding opportunities that support Earth and ocean science, including Schmidt Ocean Institute, Ocean Exploration Trust, NOAA, BOEM, USGS, and NEHRP. The presentation will focus on practical ways Early-Career Researchers can align strong science questions with agency and foundation priorities in exploration, hazards, mapping, and applied geoscience.

5PM | Meeting Adjourned

SZNet Coordinating Committee Meeting

Conveners: Emily Brodsky and Philipp Ruprecht

The group will meet for lunch on the first floor and convene in the Broadlind Room (Second Floor)

12:00-1:00PM | Lunch (Promenade Atrium, First Floor)

1:00-3:00PM | SZNet & Network Updates

After lunch, the group heads to the meeting room located on the second floor (Broadlind Room)

3:00-3:30PM | Coffee Break

3:00-5:00PM | TBD

5:00PM | Meeting adjourned

DAY 1 - MONDAY APRIL 20, 2026

Check-in, plenary meeting, poster session, breakouts, networking

DAY 1 Session 1 - Disciplinary & Overarching Vision Talks

Conveners: Sean Gallen, Kristin Morell, Hiroko Kitajima

8:30-8:45AM | Welcome Remarks, Introduction Meeting Goals | Hiroko Kitajima

8:45-9:00AM | Introduction to SZ4D | Kristin Morell

9:00-10:00AM | Keynote Vision Talks (15min presentation + 5min talk)

Driving Long-Term Landscape Evolution with Earthquakes | Adam Forte
Heterogeneous Coupling of the Megathrust from Minutes to many Millennia | Mark Simons
A New Compilation of Magmatic Fluxes in Arcs | Christy Till

10:00-10:30AM | Coffee Break

10:30-10:50AM | Lightning Talks

Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their current research, highlight posters, or pitch future research ideas.

Interested participants should upload their slides by 8:00 AM PT [link will be provided by email]

10:50-11:50AM | Keynote Vision Talks: Bridging Disciplines & Breaking Down Silos

Synthesizing Across SZ4D: From Grain Scale to Geological Time | Terry Plank
A Long-term Vision for Physics-based Forecasting of Seismicity | Magali Billen

11:50AM-12:20PM | Plenary Discussion

12:20-12:30PM | Breakout Instructions | Sean Gallen

12:30-2:00PM | Lunch on site (Promenade Atrium, First Floor)

Poster hall and meeting spaces available for informal networking and discussions

DAY 1 Session 2 - Identifying Cross-cutting Themes

2:00-3:00PM | Breakout Session 1 - Bridging Disciplines and Breaking Down Silos

The goal of this session is to identify cross-cutting science themes that are both compelling and worth developing further within the SZ4D framework. These themes should ideally connect multiple components of the subduction system and/or highlight processes that cut across disciplines.

Examples of cross-cutting themes include:

Interactions between system components, such as:

Volcano ↔ Landscape
Landscape ↔ Earthquake
Earthquake ↔ Volcano

Shared processes influencing multiple components, such as:

Rheology and stress
Mass and energy balance
Climate variability
Fluids
Triggering and cascading hazards

These examples are not exhaustive - participants will be encouraged to think broadly and propose new ideas, whether inspired by existing frameworks (e.g., cross-cutting themes illustrated in Fig. 24) or entirely novel.

Participants will be randomly assigned to breakout groups to encourage new interactions.

3:00-3:30PM | Coffee Break

3:30-5:00PM | Poster Session

Poster hall and meeting spaces available for informal networking and discussions

5:00PM | Meeting adjourned for the day

Dinner on your own (see map for nearby restaurants)

DAY 2 - TUESDAY APRIL 21, 2026

plenary meeting

DAY 2 Session 1 - Building Cross-Cutting Research Directions

Conveners: TBD

8:30-9:15AM | Breakout Session 1 report back - Identification of Cross-Cutting Research Ideas

9:15-9:30AM | Plenary Discussion

9:30-10:00AM | Early-Career Keynotes

Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Deposition as Intensity-Driven Processes (with a focus on Volcanoes) | Christopher Harper
Fault Lines and Shorelines: Tectonic-sea Level Coupling and Coastal Hazard Forecasting along Cascadia's Rocky Coasts | Claire Masteller

10:00-10:30AM | Coffee Break

10:30-11:00AM | Early-Career Keynotes

How Seamounts and Oceanic Plateaus Influence Water Cycling in Subduction Zones | Andrew Gase
Slow Slip Events Driven by Episodic Fluid Release from Slab Dehydration | Alexis Saez

11:00AM-12:00PM | Poster Session

Co-chairs working session to refine and synthesize Breakout Session 2 themes from the ideas pitched in the morning.

12:00-1:30PM | Lunch on site (Promenade Atrium, First Floor)

Poster hall and meeting spaces available for informal networking and discussions

DAY 2 Session 1 - Building Cross-Cutting Research Directions (continued)

Conveners: TBD

1:30-2:00PM | Early-Career Keynotes

Systematic Crustal Magma Storage Constraints along Volcanic Arcs: New Insights from Seismic Receiver Functions and Interdisciplinary Paths Forward | Helen Janiszewski
The Tortoise and the Hare: Role of Differential Process Rates in Shaping Landscapes | Anne Voigtlaender

2:00-2:45PM | Lightning Talk Session

Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their current research, highlight posters, or pitch future research ideas.

Interested participants should upload their slides by 1:30 PM. Link provided in email

2:45-3:00PM | Breakout Session 2 Instructions | Sean Gallen

More information will become available soon

3:00-3:30PM | Coffee Break

3:30-5:00PM | Breakout Session 2

Refined research ideas around themes identified in Breakout Session 1. These should include describing the more specific research idea and might include details on geographic locations or models to explore the idea, data sets available or needed, and specific hypotheses needed to realize the science of the cross-cutting theme.

5:00PM | Poster Session & Cash Bar

Participants pick up their posters.

Dinner on your own (see map for nearby restaurants)

DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY APRIL 22, 2026

Plenary meeting, final remarks

Hotel check out.

8:30-10:00AM | Breakout Session 2 Report

Each group will report back on refined science ideas.

10:00-10:20AM | Early Career Collaborative Meeting Report

10:20-10:50AM | Coffee Break

10:50AM-12PM | Plenary discussion wrap-up: Key Takeaways & Next Steps | Sean Gallen, Hiroko Kitajima, Kristin Morell

12:00PM | Meeting adjourned

DAY 3-5 - WED APRIL 22 THROUGH FRI APRIL 24 | FIELD TRIP TO CATALINA ISLAND

Snapshots of the subduction environment at 30-50 km depth

Field Trip Leaders: Peter Lindquist (University of Washington) & Cailey Condit (University of Washington)

StraboSpot Instructor: Claire Martin (StraboSpot)

Download the field trip program

Lodging, meals and transportation to and from the hotel all included

Lodging in shared rooms at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center

Registration fee: $490 per person

The Catalina Schist on Pimu’nga (Santa Catalina Island) consists of rocks derived from subduction settings from the mantle wedge to the paleomegathrust plate interface to subducted oceanic crust and metasedimentary sequences. The field trip will consist of 4-5 primary stops that will survey a range of easily accessible subduction-related rocks. These rocks record subduction processes at different temperatures and depths ranging from near the subarc to the base of the seismogenic zone during the construction of the Catalina Schist in a progressively-cooling Cretaceous subduction zone. We will explore exposures of subduction interface mélange rock recording mechanical and chemical hybridization of subducted rocks and mantle wedge serpentinites, as well as outcrops of metasedimentary and metabasaltic rocks representing underplated slices of subducted oceanic crust.

The Catalina Schist is a classic exposure of subduction-related rocks that has expanded our understanding of complex chemical processes in the fluid-rich subduction forearc environment, and highlights the interrelations and feedbacks between chemical and mechanical processes in subduction zones that directly influence slip behaviors and seismic hazards. The field trip will also demonstrate the usage of tools from the StraboSpot ecosystem, and highlight the ways StraboSpot, in partnership with SZ4D in the GeoArray initiative, contributes to collaborative field-based science. We will navigate the island in vans and access outcrops on foot, usually within ~100 m of the road, with one stop involving a 2.5 mile round-trip hike on flat ground.