[2] Hutton's academic research areas in seismology included magnitude measurement,[5] seismotectonics,[6] and the development of the Southern California Seismic Network.
[7] Hutton worked on a project to improve the consistency of the “earthquake catalog”, which is a list of over 400,000 southern California quakes recorded since 1932.
[10][11] Starting in the 1980s and 1990s, Hutton regularly appeared in the media alone and sometimes with her United States Geological Survey colleague Dr. Lucy Jones to inform the public about recent earthquakes in Southern California and abroad.
[2] Hutton was also sought out by international news organizations from Japan, Korea, Sweden, and France for her explanations of earthquakes.
[2] According to LA Weekly, "Hutton strikes just the right balance between calm and caution" in explaining earthquake science to viewers.