The Bicycle Disaster Resilience Hub

Elizabeth Davis, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Dr. Elizabeth Davis is a research scientist at the University of Washington, where she studies the geologic record of earthquakes and other natural hazards in western Washington.  She formerly worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City, in the Cultural Preservation Department at Duwamish Tribal Services in Seattle, and for the City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.  She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in geology from the University of Washington.

Research

Dr. Davis is a field geologist specializing in the recent geologic history of the Pacific Northwest and the record of earthquakes, landslides, and coastal change. Her work uses detailed field observations and historic records to interpret our region’s recent geologic histories and evaluate natural hazards. She is particularly interested in the interplay between tectonics, landslides, and erosion on the Olympic Coast of Washington. Her interest in bicycle response to disasters stems from her experience coordinating COVID-19 cargo bike distribution of locally-grown vegetables in Seattle, and from her time riding with cyclists in Mexico City who responded to the 2017 Puebla earthquake.

Recent Publications

  1. Davis, E. J., Crider, J. G., Haugerud, R. A., Roland, E., & Moore, G. (2026). Deformed submarine terraces in Puget Sound, Pacific Northwest, indicate only one M>∼ 7.5 earthquake on the Seattle fault zone in the past 11,000 yr. Geology. https://doi.org/10.1130/G53496.1
  2. Lang, M., Davis, E.J., (2022) “The Disaster Response Exercise: mapping a post-earthquake environment from a bicyclist’s perspective” UW Libraries GIS Symposium. Watch at: https://uw.manifoldapp.org/read/proceedings-of-the-sixth-annual-uw-gis-symposium/section/16377918-6845-4381-ac4d-8240b40c1781/resource/2223f0c4-4235-49bd-bae5-55b8965a8629
  3. Davis, E.J., Chang, S., Hou, S., Cowell, K., Teal, T., Garcia-Arceo, S. (2022). A century of landslides in Seattle: coalescing and digitizing the City’s historic landslide inventories. Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, 28(4): 335-346. https://doi.org/10.2113/EEG-D-21-00097. Access the data: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/2acb05d732134331bc05214740076373/page/Hazard-Explorer?views=Landslides
  4. Davis, E.J., Pfluger, H., Crider, J., (2021) “Earthquakes, ecological change, and human modification in sediments of the Duwamish delta, Seattle, WA” Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, Bellingham, Washington. https://mabel.wwu.edu/do/79f22575-5adb-41e3-a100-db630a131d38