Scott Burdick, geology assistant professor

Dr. Scott Burdick joined the WSU geology as an assistant professor in August 2017. His primary research interest is in using geophysical data like seismic recordings and gravity surveys to make inferences about the structure and material properties of the Earth. Dr. Burdick earned his Ph.D. in Geophysics at M.I.T. in 2014, where he specialized in mapping the Earth’s mantle with seismic tomography.

His studies there took him from the Cascade Range in Washington to Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. Following graduation, Scott served as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland, focusing on advancing the understanding of uncertainty in Earth models derived from tomography. His ongoing research has applied these advances to a diverse set of Earth Science problems, from inner core anisotropy to mass spectrometer data reduction to the detection of glacial aquifers.

Now at Wayne State, Dr. Burdick is excited to forge ahead on several new projects. These include the joint application of seismic and gravity measurements to constrain the volume and geometry of the Midcontinental Rift and the estimation of how well seismic waves can resolve the composition and fabric of crustal rocks.

Students are encouraged to contact him if they are interested in working on these questions at scott.burdick2@wayne.edu. In addition to research, beginning in Spring 2018 he will be teaching sections of Geology 1010, Structural Geology and Applied Geophysics.

He also looks forward to increasing the interaction between the department and Wayne State’s high-performance computing facilities and exploring the potential of the WSU Planetarium for teaching concepts in global Earth Science.