John Dale Dianala

Featured on July 3, 2022

Say hello to July and this week’s Pinoy Scientist John Dale ‘JD’ Dianala, an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS).

JD graduated cum laude with Bachelor’s degree in Geology at UP Diliman as a DOST-Merit Scholar. He then finished his Master’s in Geology at the same university, with his thesis tackling static stress transfer from the February 2012 Negros and October 2013 Bohol earthquake.

JD then completed his PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, thanks to the British Council-CHED Newton Agham scholarship. His doctoral thesis focused on the geodesy and geology of earthquakes and aseismic slip.

JD’s research interests lie in understanding where, how often, and why earthquakes happen by studying how tectonic faults deform in time and space. To do so, he primarily works with satellite radar (InSAR) and GPS data to map and model earthquake sources, and exploits remote sensing data to aid disaster response and the long-term understanding of faults.

Some fun facts about JD:

1. He enjoys both coffee and tea.  As freshly roasted and ground, and as full-leafed as possible, respectively!
2. He took his first piano lessons at age 24.
3. Gotta catch ’em all?  Back in elementary school, he had 149 out of 150 Pokemon in Pokemon Yellow (excluding Mew). But then he lost his Gameboy cartridge. (He was missing Magmar).