University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences.
Received M.S. and PhD in Geophysics and Space Physics
(PhD advisory committee: Paul Davis (Chair), David Jackson, William Kaula, and Leon Knopoff)

Ocean University of China, College of Marine Geo-sciences,
Received BS in Marine Geology and Geophysics

APPOINTMENTS

4/1/2024-Present: Chair, Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering (formerly Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering).

8/1/2023-3/31/2024: Interim Chair, Department of Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering.

9/1/2022-7/31/2023: Interim Chair, Department of Computer Science.

1/1/2020-present: director (interim before 9/1/2022), High Performance Computing Center at Missouri S&T.

2019-present: Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professor.

8/1/2019-9/1/2022: Chair of Geology and Geophysics Program at Missouri S&T; Associate Department Chair of Research.

2016-present: Senior investigator, Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center

2009-present: Professor, Geology and Geophysics Program, Missouri University of Science and Technology

2006-2009: Associate professor, Geology and Geophysics Program, Missouri University of Science and Technology

2004-2006: Associate professor, Dept. of Geology, Kansas State University

1999-2004: Assistant professor, Dept. of Geology, Kansas State University

1998-1999: Visiting assistant professor, Arizona State University

1997-1998: Post-doctoral associate, Seismology, DTM, Carnegie Institution of Washington (Advisors: Paul Silver & David James)

1995-1997: Post-doctoral researcher, Geophysics, UCLA (Advisor: Paul Davis)

1990-1995: Graduate research assistant, UCLA


AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Elected fellow of the Geological Society of America (2012)

Faculty Excellence Award (2014)
(given annually to up to 5 Missouri S&T faculty members "to recognize sustained excellence in teaching, research and service.")

Faculty Service Award (2016)
(given annually to up to 4 Missouri S&T faculty to "recognize faculty members who display exemplary, sustained service to the university
and their profession. The intent of the award is to honor outstanding citizens of the university for their commitment and service.")

Faculty Teaching Award (2016)
(given annually to up to 8 Missouri S&T faculty to "recognize faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in teaching-related activities.")

Faculty Research Award (2017)
(given annually to up to 8 (9 in 2018) Missouri S&T faculty to "recognize faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in research and scholarship.")

Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2018)
(given annually to an outstanding faculty member from each of the 15 public universities in Missouri to recognize
"effective teaching, effective advising, service to the university community, commitment to high standards of excellence, and success in nurturing student achievement").

Sustained Excellence in Outstanding Teaching Award (2018)
Given to ~10 Missouri S&T faculty who received 9 or more Outstanding Teaching awards over the past 10 years.

Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professorship (2019-).

Academy of Mines and Metallurgy Senior Faculty Award (2022).

University Outstanding Teaching Award (given annually to about 40 university faculty based on student evaluations and class size etc.):

(1). 2008-2009 academic year
(2). 2009-2010 academic year
(3). 2011-2012 academic year
(4). 2012-2013 academic year
(5). 2013-2014 academic year
(6). 2014-2015 academic year
(7). 2015-2016 academic year
(8). 2016-2017 academic year
(9). 2017-2018 academic year

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Courses taught since 1998:
(1). Physical and Environmental Geology (taught at Missouri S&T, Kansas State University, and Arizona State University)
(2). Introduction to Geophysics (a required course for a BS in Geology/Geophysics at Missouri S&T)
(3). Field Geophysics (taught at Kansas State University and Arizona State University)
(4). Computational Geophysics (a required course for a BS with geophysics emphasis at Missouri S&T)
(5). Global Tectonics (a required course for a BS in Geology/Geophysics at Missouri S&T)
(6). Advanced Seismology (graduate-level course, taught at KSU)
(7). Geotectonics (graduate-level course at Missouri S&T)
(8). Advanced Geophysical Data Processing (graduate-level course at Missouri S&T)
(9). Theory of Elastic Wave Propagation (graduate-level course at Missouri S&T)
(10). Geophysical Inverse Theory (graduate-level course at Missouri S&T)

Field Trips:
* Co-leader for Mojave Desert Geology Field Trip, winter break, 2004
* Co-leader for Death Valley Geology Field Trip, winter break, 2002
* Co-conductor, Summer Workshop for Kansas Science Teachers, 2002

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Highlights:
* Awardee of ~35 externally funded projects (about 75% from the US National Science Foundation), 1999-
* Author of ~140 refereed papers.
* Author of ~300 conference abstracts/proceedings etc.
* H-index >= 45; Number of citations: >= 6500. Google Scholar citations.

Research Expertise (Click here to view papers grouped based on research area):
General field: Computational Geophysics, Signal Detection, Data Mining and Machine Learning.
Major applications:
(1). Seismic anisotropy
(2). Seismic wave attenuation
(3). Velocity tomography
(4). Mantle discontinuities using receiver functions
(5). Spatial and temporal distributions of earthquakes
(6). Crustal deformation using GPS-equivalent data
(7). Focusing of seismic energy by lens-like geological structures
(8). Seafloor topography
(9). Digital signal processing
(10). Crustal thickness and Poisson's ratio
(11). Geophysical detection of buried objects such as unexploded bombs

Tectonic regions with refereed publications (click here to view a PDF map of geographic distribution of research areas):
(1). North American Plate
(2). Eurasian Plate (China, Russia, Japan, and Mongolia)
(3). African Plate (Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa)
(4). South American Plate
(5). Pacific Plate
(6). Arabian Plate

Memberships:
* American Geophysical Union, life member, 1992-
* Seismological Society of America, 1994-
* Geological Society of America, 2007-. (Elected fellow, 2012)
* Society of Exploration Geophysicists, active member, 2016-
* Sigma Xi, 2002
* UCLA Alumni Association , life member, 2010 -

SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS

Professional Society:
* National Science Foundation proposal review panelist/panel chair, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2014
* US Geological Survey NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program) proposal review panelist, 2000, 2011
* EarthScope Transportable Array Working Group (2008-2010)
* Editorial board member, Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 2013-2018
* Reviewer of numerous NSF, DOE, ACS and other proposals and manuscripts
* Co-organizer, Central Plains EarthScope Partnership (2008-)
* Member of Board of Directors/institution representative, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS, about 100 member institutions in the US), 1999-
* Member of Best Student Paper Selection Committee, American Geophysical Union, 2000
* Member of Best Student Paper Selection Committee, Earthscope National Meeting, 2007
* Co-conductor and executive committee member, Workshop for US Seismic Array, 2003
* Manager of a national seismic station (KSU1) located on Konza, 2000-2006
* Session Chairman/convener of American Geophysical Union Meetings, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 (WPG), 2010 (WPG), 2013, 2019
* Invited speaker at about 80 seminars in the US and elsewhere, 1995-. (click here for a selected list.

Campus & Departmental:
* Member, Provost search committee, 2025
* Co-chair, Material Science and Engineering Department Chair search committee, 2025
* Chair, Cindy Tang Cyber Security Professorship Search Committee, 2024-2025
* Member, Award Capture Team, 2022-
* Member, Faculty External Rewards and Recognitions Committee, 2020-2022
* Member, Selection Committee for Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professors, 2020-2021
* Geology and Geophysics Program Chair, 2019-2020
* Associate Department Chair for Research, 2020-2022
* Campus Selection Committee for Faculty Teaching Award, 2019-2020
* Campus Selection Committee for Faculty Excellence Award, 2019-2020 (Committee chair for 2019 and 2020)
* Campus Committee for Effective Teaching, 2018-2020
* Campus Committee for Graduation & Retention, 2019
* Faculty representative to Missouri S&T Trustees, 2020-present
* Miner Master Mentor for Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence, 2018-present.
* GGPE departmental chair search committee member, 2016-2017
* Departmental representative to the search committee of the Dean of College of Engineering and Computing, 2016-2017
* Campus Grievance Resolution Panel, 2015-2017
* Missouri S&T Faculty Senate Tenure Policy Committee, 2006-2008; and 2011-present
* Faculty advisor of CSSA (Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Missouri S&T), 2013-2015
* Geology and Geophysics Program transfer student advisor, 2013-2019
* Geology and Geophysics Graduate Program coordinator, 2011-2013, 01/2020-05/2020
* Geology and Geophysics faculty search committee member/chair, 2009-2010, 2012-2013, 2015-2016
* Departmental tenure and promotion committees: As the chair of associate-to-full professor committees for four, and as a P&T committee member for 7 other colleagues, 2009-present
* College and Campus Tenure and Promotion Committees, 2013-15; 2018-19
* Campus Strategic Plan Lever 4.5 Committee, 2013-14
* Campus IT and Computing Committee, 2006-2011
* KSU Faculty Senate Faculty Salary and Fringe Benefits Committee, 2005-2006
* Faculty advisor/coordinator for two KSU student clubs (Sigma Gamma Epsilon and Gamma Sigma Delta), 2001-2006
* Member of KSU Geology Faculty Search Committees, 2000-01, 2004

Outreach Activities:
Interviewed/reported by many news media on earthquakes and geophysical studies of the Earth.
Click here for a selected list.

GRADUATE STUDENTS ADVISED (INCLUDING CO-ADVISED)

Awards received by graduate student advisees/co-advisees

Completed PhD students as the primary advisor (and time of graduation):
D. Moidaki (05/2009), S. Almadani (08/2011), L. Bashir (12/2011), B. Wang (12/2011), A. Elsheikh (05/2014),
U. Purevsuren (12/2014), Y. Yu (08/2015), S. Cherie (12/2015), F. Kong (08/2016), C. Reed (05/2017),
H. Dahm (08/2017), L. Liu (08/2018), M. Sun (05/2019), D. Wang (05/2020), Q. Yang (05/2021),
K. Ba (08/2021), Y. Yang (08/2021), T. Xue (12/2022), Y. Zhang (12/2022), Z. Miao (05/2024),
Y. Liao (05/2024).

Completed PhD students as the co-advisor (and time of graduation):
A. Atef (05/2011), D. Bridges (05/2011), H. Refayee (12/2012), A. Lemnifi (05/2016), B. Yang (08/2016),
A. Abdelnabi (08/2017), A. Alhakeem (05/2018), Y. Peng (08/2018), Y. Lin (12/2019), T. Zhang (12/2019),
T. Wang (12/2020), E. Jiang (05/2021), A. Shrivastava (08/2121), Y. Jia (12/2022), C. Shen (05/2024).

Completed MS students (and time of graduation):
A. Cao (2002), C. Chen (2003), Z. Zhang (2005), D. Bridges (2006), E. Chinaka (2006),
W. Qu (2006), I. Rodney (2007), B. Aldridge (2012), A. Dera (2012), D. Leach (2012),
E. Bayindir (08/2013), S. Wu (08/2014), S. Cheng (08/2014), M. Gepek (08/2014), D. Mert (10/2014),
O. Sahin (05/2016), B. De Almeida Goetze (05/2016), Y. Liu (08/2016), A. Dayma (05/2017).

PUBLICATIONS
Click here for publications, and here for Google Scholar citations.

FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Click here