Demian (Michael) Saffer is an American geophysicist based at The University of Texas at Austin[citation needed] where he is director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and professor at the Department of Geological Sciences of the Jackson School of Geosciences[citation needed] .
He studies the role of fluids and friction in the mechanics of subduction megathrust earthquakes.
He left Penn State in 2020 to become director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.
[citation needed] Saffer is heavily involved in the scientific ocean drilling community and has been co-chief scientist of five[2] major scientific ocean drilling expeditions to investigate large earthquake faults at the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, including the deepest scientific drilling of a subduction zone.
[8] From 2016 until 2020, when it wound up, he chaired the GeoPRISMS program — an international, cross-disciplinary effort to bring terrestrial and marine scientists together to investigate continental margins.