A research center established by the UCCSN Board of Regents and located within the Nevada Seismological Laboratory and the College of Science and Mackay School of Earth Science and Engineering within the University of Nevada at Reno which provides graduate students and post-doctoral level researchers the opportunity to conduct research in neotectonics and closely related disciplines.

The study of geologically recent motions of the Earth's crust, particularly those produced by earthquakes, with the goals of understanding the physics of earthquake recurrence, the growth of mountains, and the seismic hazard embodied in these processes