Rick Aster

Department Head and professor in the Department of Geosciences, Aster focuses on geophysics, seismological imaging of the deep Earth and Earth processes encompassing earthquakes, volcanos, glaciers, oceans and geology. His research has drawn from significant seismological field studies in western North America, Italy and Antarctica.

Aster has received professional society recognition and multiple awards for his work, including the National Science Foundation Antarctic Services Medal, 1999; the New Mexico Tech Distinguished Research Award, 2010; elected President of the Seismological Society of America, 2009 – 2011; Distinguished alumnus of the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017; Fellow of the Geological Society of America, 2018; Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2019; Chair of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, 2019 – 2020; and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2022.

Aster received his B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1983. He earned his M.S. in geophysics from the same institution in 1986, and his Ph.D. in earth science from the University of California, San Diego, in 1991.