Seismic Success: Winsor Alum’s on-Campus Seismometer Detects Maine Quake
Earlier this week, an earthquake off the coast of York, Maine registered 3.9 on the Richter scale. Not only were tremors felt much closer to home in Boston, they were also recorded by a seismometer tucked under a table on the floor of the Robotics Lab at Winsor.
Years ago, Science Faculty and Essential Winsor Science Chair Ken Schopf and Science Faculty, STEM Integration Coordinator, and Innovation Lab Manager Chris Player worked together to develop a digital seismometer lesson for Class III students. Mr. Player put together a handful of simple devices that could measure and draw visualizations of shakes across three axes, which the students then learned about in their Class III Circuits course.
In 2022, Engineering Design student Karla Sahin ’24 expanded on Winsor’s capacity to measure seismic activity by building the seismometer that now resides in the basement of the Lubin O’Donnell Center. It has been recording seismic activity ever since. Karla researched how to build the device, secured the necessary materials through Mr. Player, and installed it in the school’s basement, where a wired network connection allowed for real-time data streaming. Her work not only applied her engineering skills but also enriched the school’s geology curriculum. Since then, students have analyzed live seismic data, observed variations caused by rush hour traffic, and even detected shifts in building activity as students arrive and depart each day.
When the earthquake struck earlier this week, Karla’s seismometer registered the event, providing a real-world case study for Class III Science students, who are currently studying plate tectonics. The students reviewed the seismometer’s report in their classes, turning the quake into a timely lesson in geophysics.
The Winsor seismometer is part of a vast global network of such devices, contributing valuable local data to the scientific community. Thanks to Karla’s ingenuity and the support of faculty, Winsor students continue to engage with hands-on scientific discovery—right from our own campus.
