CV

Education

Ph.D. (Cum Laude) Geophysics, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

M.Sc. Geophysics, Institute de Physique du Globe, Paris, France

B.Sc. (with High Honors) Physics, University de Liege, Belgium

Honors and Awards

2016 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecturer;

2009 UCLA Faculty Career Development Award;

2005 EGU Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists;

Employment

07/2023-Present: Professor, Dept. of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UC Los Angeles, CA

07/2015-06/2023: Associate Professor, Dept. of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UC Los Angeles, CA

01/2008-06/2015: Assistant Professor (2011-2012 and 2012-2013 off the tenure clock), Dept. of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UC Los Angeles, CA, USA

05/2006-12/2007: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA – Advisor: Dr. Matthew Fouch

01/2004-12/2005: Postdoctoral Scholar/Fellow, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Space Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA – Advisor: Dr. Rob van der Hilst

11/1998-10/2003: Research Assistant (Ph.D. student), Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands – Advisor: Dr. Jeannot Trampert

Other Appointments

Visiting scientist, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX – January 2018 – December 2019

Visiting Scientist, Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX – Winter quarter 2017

Visiting Investigator, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA – February 18th, 2014-March 7th, 2014

Publications – follow link

Abstracts – follow link

Mentoring

Postdoctoral Researchers: Jiaqi Li (June 2021-May 2023)

Graduate students: Kaiqing Yuan (PhD 2014), Zheng Xing (Fall 2011-Fall 2018, PhD 2019), Igor Stubailo (PhD 2015, from 2008 to 2010, advisor Paul Davis), Erik Weidner (Fall 2015-present), Haotian Xu  (Fall 2015-present)

Undergraduate students: Raj Hamlai (Winter 2021–Winter 2022); Valeria Villa (Fall 2019-Spring 2021, currently Caltech Ph.D. student); Trey Knudon (Spring 2018Winter 2019, currently Stanford Ph.D. student); Jade Wright (Winter & Spring 2019); Renee Delamater-Droungas (Winter 2019present), Kenton Reiss (Spring 2018present); Grace Parker (Fall 2013Spring 2014, B.S. 2014 – UCLA Ph.D., Engineering); Helen Feng (Fall 2009-Spring 2010, B.S. 20102016 Ph.D. from WHOI/MIT)

Staff Research Assistant: Derek Tran (Fall 2015-Spring 2016)

Grant and Proposals – follow LINK

Field Experience

Applied Geophysics field trip in Peru (UCLA ESS 136A, May 2009)

Installation of an array of broadband seismometers across two transects of the High Lava Plains, Oregon (June 2006 & June 2007 – 4 weeks total)

PASSCAL training in Socorro, NM (april 2007)

Service to the Scientific Community

  • SAGE/GAGE 2023 meeting organizing committee
  • UCLA Representative for Earthscope Consortium, March 2022-present
  • InSight Mission Interior Working Group co-leader, January 2021 – present
  • External PhD thesis committee member: Sahar Akbarashrafi, Utrecht University, December 2019
  • Topical editor for EGU journal Solid Earth, 2018-present
  • AGU Fall meeting committee, seismology section representative, 2018-2019
  • IRIS GSN Standing Committee, 2010 – 2012
  • Earthscope Transportable Array Working Group, 2009 – 2011

UCLA Committees

  • Thesis Committees: Liuwei Xu (UCLA EPSS), Saeed Mohanna (UCLA EPSS), Matthew W. Bogumil (UCLA EPSS), Han Bao (UCLA EPSS), Robin Mostardi (UCLA Astronomy),  Igor Stubailo (UCLA EPSS, PhD 2015), Anne Strader (UCLA EPSS, PhD 2014), Luis Antonio Dominguez-Ramirez (UCLA ESS, PhD 2012),  Paul Cox (UCLA ESS, MSc 2013)
  • Thesis Committee Chair: Haotian Xu (UCLA EPSS, MSc 2017, Ph.D. 2021), Erik Weidner (UCLA EPSS, MSc 2017, Ph.D. candidate 2021), Zheng Xing (UCLA EPSS, Ph.D. 2019), Kaiqing Yuan (UCLA EPSS, Ph.D. 2015)
  • UCLA Council on Planning and Budget Members, AY 2023 – AY 2026
  • LMS Transformation Project “Faculty Champion”, AY 2021 – 2022
  • Senate Legislative Assembly, UCLA, AY 2018 – 2021
  • Staff Relations Committee, UCLA, AY 2009 – 2012
  • Curriculum Committee, UCLA, AY 2008 – 2013 & AY 2014- 2016, AY 2019-present
  • Curriculum Committee co-Chair, UCLA, AY 2021 – Present
  • Graduate Student Relations Committee, UCLA, AY 2015 – 2016
  • Graduate Student Award Committee, UCLA, AY 2015 – 2016
  • Graduate counselor for G&P, UCLA, AY 2015 – 2016
  • EPSS Information Technology and Computing Committee, AY 2016 – 2022
  • Computing Committee, UCLA, AY 2008 – 2010
  • Faculty Search Committee, UCLA, AY 2011 – 2012 & AY 2012 – 2013
  • Department Website Committee, UCLA, AY 2009 – 2010
  • Ad Hoc Committees for merit reviews, UCLA, AY 2009 – 2010, AY 2013 – 2014, AY 2016 – 2021

Outreach Activities and Other Services

  • Mentor for InSightSeer Program within the NASA InSight Mission,  June 2021, March 2022
  • Mentor for K-12 Girl STEM Pathways, Space Center Houston, TX, October 2020 – December 2020
  • Teleconference with SWISE Costa Rica chapter, June 2020
  • Interviewed about Mars and the InSight mission by High School students in Costa Rica, March 2020
  • Invited speaker at Space Exploration Educators Conference, Space Center Houston, 02/08/2019, 02/07/2020, and 02/05/2021
  • Explore Your Universe, UCLA, 2018, “What’s Inside Mars?” presented by graduate student Erik Weidner
  • 2016 Public lectures across the United States as part of the IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecturer Series (01/30/2016 Rutgers Geology Museum; 08/29/2016 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry; 10/07/2016 Southwest Oregon Community College)
  • Quoted in the Huffington Post about earthquake swarms in the SF Bay area (10/28/2015)
  • Participation via interviews to research project on transnational mobility and career trajectory of academics (Fall 2014 and Winter 2015)
  • IRIS Webinar, available on YouTube (Winter 2014)
  • Press release after 2014 Science paper (Winter 2014)
  • Earthquake preparedness, brown bag lunch at UCLA Krieger Center for Early Care and Education (2012)
  • Presentation on earthquakes for visiting students from Nightingale Middle School (2010)
  • Presentation on earthquakes for visiting High School students from Village Glen West (2009)
  • Presentation on earthquakes for visiting students from Immaculate Heart High School (2009)

Other Professional Activities

  • External Ph.D. thesis committee member: Sahar Akbarashrafi, Utrecht University, Dec. 2019; Simon Schneider, Utrecht Univ., Jan 2022
  • Topical Editor, Solid Earth, 2018 – present
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Committee, Seismology section representative, 2018-2019
  • Tenure letter writer for a faculty member from an underrepresented group in STEM, 2019, 2023
  • Judge for Outstanding Student Presentation Awards, AGU meeting 2018, 2019
  • Liaison for Outstanding Student Presentation Awards, AGU meeting 2018, 2019
  • Organizer and convener of AGU 2019 Fall Meeting session “Centennial Session: The Anisotropic Earth”
  • Organizer of AGU 2016 Fall Meeting session “G, LAB, and MLDs: What are they anyway? Lithospheric boundary structures within and beneath the oceans and continents”
  • Organizer of AGU 2014 Fall Meeting session “The Mantle Transition Zone: Its Role in Earth’s Thermochemical Evolution”
  • Organizer of AGU 2012 Fall Meeting session “The Mantle Transition Zone and its Role in Thermo-Chemical Convection”
  • Organizer and convener of AGU 2010 Fall Meeting session “Seismic Anisotropy in the Mantle: Progress, Prospects, and Pitfalls”
  • AGU Fall Meeting 2008 session chair
  • Faculty meeting scribe, Spring 2008 and Winter 2009
  • Volunteer judge for “LA Basin Symposium” organized by graduate students at UCLA, Spring 2008
  • EPSS Information Technology and Computing Committee, UCLA, Spring 2017
  • Reviewer for UCLA Council on Research Research Enabling Grant Applications 2010
  • Panel reviewer for NSF (2017) and for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 2009 Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program (NHARP)
  • Peer referee for PNAS, Science, Nature Geoscience, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, Geophysical Journal International, Geology, Tectonophysics, Frontier of Earth Science, BSSA, Geophysical Research Letters, G3, Pure and Applied Geophysics
  • Peer reviewer for NASA Lunar  Surface  Instrument  and  Technology  Payloads  Program, the European Research Council, American National Science Foundation (Antarctic Earth Sciences, NSF-OCE, Marine Geosciences Section, NSF-CMG, Instruments and Facilities, Geophysics, CSEDI, Earthscope programs, and NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships)
  • Member of the Earth Science Women Network since 2008
  • Member of the American Geophysical Union since 2001
  • Member of the Seismological Society of America since 2009
  • Member of the European Geosciences Union, 2018

Invited Presentations – Follow Link

Meetings and Workshops Attended

  • Subject Matter Expert for Unified Geophysical Facility Workshop organized by Samara Data, February 2021
  • LGN Team Meeting: Huntsville, AL, January 2020
  • InSight Team Meetings: Graz, Austria, 2018; Pasadena, CA, 2019; Paris, France, 2019; Los Angeles, 2019
  • How to Continue to Build My Career and Advance to Full Professor workshop, UCLA, 6 February 2019
  • CEILS Workshop, UCLA, “Bringing Theory to Practice: Engaging Your Students in Active Learning & Effective Group Work”, 5 June 2018
  • Gordon Research Conference on “Interior of the Earth”, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, 2017
  • CIDER Summer Program “Flow in the Deep Earth”, July 2016
  • Pre-AGU 2015 CIDER Workshop, December 2016
  • Math + X Symposium on Seismology and Inverse Problems, Houston, TX, January 2016
  • Tenure & Time Management: How To Manage Your Time So You Can Publish Prolifically And Have A Life Beyond The Ivory Tower, UCLA, 10 Feb 2015
  • Cooperative Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior (CSEDI) Science Plan Workshop, La Jolla, CA, 21-22 Jan 2015
  • Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research (CIDER) meeting, 23 June-5 July 2014
  • Goldschmidt meeting, Florence, Italy, 25-30 August 2013
  • Gordon research conference on Earth Interior, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, 2-6 June 2013
  • 1st Southern California Deep Earth Dynamics Symposium, USC, 1 May 2013
  • SCEC Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, September 2010
  • 12th Symposium of SEDI, Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior, Santa Barbara, CA, 18-23 July 2010
  • Early Career Geoscience Faculty: Teaching, Research, and Managing Your Career, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 6-10 June 2010
  • Gender Bias in Evaluations: Complexity and Subtlety in Patterns of Stereotyping and Prejudice, UCLA, November 18th 2009
  • Faculty Search Committee Briefing, UCLA, November 4th 2009
  • Earth Science Women’s Network Leadership Workshop, San Francisco, CA, 13-14 December 2008
  • IRIS Long Range Science Plan for Seismology workshop, Lakewood, Co, 18-19 September 2008
  • MYRES (Meeting for Young Researchers in the Earth Sciences), UCSD, San Diego, USA, August 2004
  • Summer school on “Mathematical Geophysics and Uncertainty in Earth Models”, Colorado School of  Mines, USA, June 2004
  • Workshop on inverse theory, Troy, USA, 30 January 2004
  • The Deep Earth: Theory, Experiment and Observation, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, Sept. 2003
  • The Deep Earth: Theory, Experiment and Observation, Espinho, Portugal, Sept. 2001
  • The Deep Earth: Theory, Experiment and Observation, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, 11-16 Sept. 1999
  • Imaging of Complex Media With Acoustic and Seismic Waves, Cargèse, Corsica, April 26-May 8, 1999
  • AGU Fall meeting (2002 – 2011; 2013-present)
  • AGU Spring Meeting 2001
  • Earthscope National Meeting (2007, 2009)
  • EGU Meeting (2004, 2005)

Other Accomplishments

  • Marguerite Boyce (18 May 2015)
  • Charlotte Boyce (16 April 2011)
  • Nursing spouse for several months after nearly-fatal illness that hit in July 2012. Work involved: managing child as single parent for several months; visiting spouse daily while spouse was in a coma for 3.5 weeks and then relearning to walk for 4 weeks in rehab; driving spouse to multiple doctors appointment every week; helping spouse to take steps; managing entire household (cooking, cleaning, childcare, groceries, etc) and spouse’s medications for the first few months.