About me …
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department at The College of New Jersey. A Massachusetts native, I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Mount Holyoke College in 2007. In the summer of 2006 I was a part of a REU program, where I went to Dominica to conduct a campaign GPS survey followed by an independent research project. This was my first introduction into geodesy and geophysics and I was hooked.
I continued my education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Master of Science degree in geophysics in 2009 and then went on to the University of Wisconsin Madison for my Ph.D. in geophysics. Throughout my graduate career, my research interests have varied from seismology, to geodesy and crustal deformation. Since earning my Ph.D. in 2013, my research has focused on crustal deformation and earthquake cycle modeling. My dissertation involved geodetic and seismic data to constrain slip on inter-plate faults due to earthquakes, afterslip, and slow slip events in Mexico and Central America. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, I developed a global block model, using techniques often associated with regional geodetic earthquake cycle studies, to study Earth in its entirety. Geodetically imaged interseismic deformation can be used to constrain the distribution of elastic strain accumulation, slip partitioning across complex fault patterns, plate rotations, and spatially variable patterns of fault coupling. Applying this technique allows for direct comparison fault coupling and the ability to investigate interactions between neighboring tectonic regions.
The focus of my research is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the causes of crustal deformation and their impact on hazard to local communities. Using geodetic and seismic data to constrain computer-based models of plate boundaries at both the regional and global scale, I strive to answer questions regarding how motion is accommodated across plate boundaries and what impact it has on both future events and society. I am passionate about understanding how the earth works and strive to make meaningful contributions not only scientifically, but that can also be used to determine hazards for local communities.
Recent research topics include:
studying earthquake cycle deformation to lead to a better understanding of seismic and aseismic processes on both the regional and global scale
modeling the source location, duration, and migration of slow slip events (SSEs), their potential to trigger large earthquakes, as well as long-term SSEs and their impact on interseismic coupling estimates through time
advancing current techniques for investigating crustal deformation in both model representation and data analysis (e.g. the Global Block Model)
“EagleQuakes” at Boston College: seismology and athletics