John Filson has been a leader within USGS and the earthquake seismology and engineering and communities for over 40 years. He has been cited numerous times for outstanding service within the US government on behalf of seismic safety. He received the Meritorious Service Award from USGS, the Outstanding Public Service Award from FEMA, and the Distinguished Service Award from the US Department of Interior (DOI), which is DOI’s highest public honor. John was also President of the Seismological Society of America.

 John initiated the US National Seismograph Network, which was the first such network in the US providing real time seismic data. That network has since evolved into the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS). He was lead seismologist on the 1988 Armenia earthquake reconnaissance mission, and helped orchestrate the USGS response to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. He played a leadership role in the deployment of seismic strong motion instruments in the USSR, Russia, and China. At USGS, John served as Chief of the Office of Earthquake Studies, Chief of the Office of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Engineering, and Coordinator of the Earthquake Hazards Program. At USGS, John was esteemed for his excellent advice, guidance, unflinching support, and wisdom with respect to NEHRP.

He retired from the USGS in 2003 but continues part-time work in support of the NEHRP Secretariat at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Even though John’s retirement home is in New Hampshire, he has participated in virtually every monthly meeting of the NEHRP Coordination Working Group in Washington, DC since 2006. He has actively participated in various NEHRP committees since retirement, and has been the leading co-author of the most recent NEHRP Strategic Plan and all NEHRP Annual Reports since NIST assumed its role as the lead NEHRP agency.  

John attended Rice Institute (now University) and received a Bachelor’s degree in Geology in 1960. After serving three years as an officer in the U. S. Marine Corps, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, from which he received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geophysics. His early professional work was at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developing technical means to monitor arms control agreements.

John has received the Meritorious and Distinguished Service Awards of the Department of Interior, the Outstanding Public Service Award of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an Exceptional Performance Award of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the O. Yu. Schmidt Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Past President of the Seismological Society of America.