The Center for Collect Impact in Earthquake Science (C-CIES), a catalyst project funded by the National Science Foundation, is working toward becoming a full-fledged interdisciplinary research center that focuses on high-impact understudied earthquakes, with an emphasis on community engagement. As currently planned, C-CIES will conduct fundamental earthquake science and develop strategies for better identifying and quantifying seismic hazards in several focus regions including Puerto Rico, the Intermountain West, the Central U.S., and the Eastern U.S. We will extend those results to apply to many other regions of the world. Using collective impact, C-CIES’s research will prioritize the needs of vulnerable populations that have been historically underserved by current earthquake science, engineering, and public policy. To accomplish its vision and mission, C-CIES currently funds pilot projects that address critical earthquake science questions with strong social impact and community engagement plans. The full center will conduct scientific investigations 1) identifying and understanding active faults, 2) distinguishing drivers of earthquakes in intraplate regions (including areas with induced seismicity), 3) improve physics-based ground motion models, 4) evaluate earthquake resilience of buildings in our focus regions, and 5) determine strategies to better inform and engage communities. We will continue to conduct research to support and engage new researchers and communities to contribute to the center’s mission, vision, and research goals. All research projects will be evaluated using the five elements of collective impact: common agenda, mutually reinforcing activities, shared metrics, and the backbone organization. Research will be use inspired, responsive to community needs, and translated into actions that can improve resilience and reduce risks from geohazards related to earthquakes. In addition to advancing interdisciplinary earthquake science and engineering, we will recruit, retain, and train the next generation of diverse, earthquake scientists. We believe a new center using this approach will transform how earthquake and associated hazard science is being conducted, leading to fundamental breakthroughs that will profoundly and positively impact communities throughout the country.