Rate My Professor Susan Beck

Susan L. Beck is a Professor of Global Seismology and Tectonics in the Department of Geosciences at The University of Arizona. She earned her B.S. in Geology in 1979 and M.S. in Structural Geology in 1982 from the University of Utah, followed by a Ph.D. in Seismology from the University of Michigan in 1987. After serving as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1988 to 1990, she joined The University of Arizona as Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences in 1990, advancing to Associate Professor in 1996 and Professor in 2001. Beck served as Department Head from 2000 to 2007 and has been Director of Graduate Studies since 2014.

Beck's research focuses on using broadband seismology to investigate mountain belts, subduction zones, and earthquakes, particularly the tectonic evolution of the North and South American Cordilleras and Anatolia. She leads the Global Seismology and Tectonics Group and directs major international projects including CAUGHT (Central Andes Uplift and Geodynamics of High Plateaus), PULSE (Peru Flat Slab), SIEMBRA (Argentina Flat Slab), MIMOSA (Multi-scale Imaging of Modern Orogenic South America), CDCAT (Central Anatolian Tectonics), and others. Through extensive seismic deployments across the Andes in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina, her work has revealed the thick felsic composition of orogenic crust beneath the Altiplano, processes of lithospheric delamination, crustal shortening, and the dynamics of flat-slab subduction. Key publications include "The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004" (Science, 2005), "The nature of orogenic crust in the central Andes" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2002), "Crustal-thickness variations in the central Andes" (Geology, 1996), and "Segmented African lithosphere beneath the Anatolian region inferred from teleseismic P-wave tomography" (Geophysical Journal International, 2011). Beck has received the 2020 American Geophysical Union Walter H. Bucher Medal, 2017 Geological Society of America Woollard Award, 2023 University of Arizona Research, Innovation & Impact Women of Impact Award, AGU Fellowship (2014), GSA Fellowship (2015), and served as Chair of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Board of Directors (2008-2010).