Tim J. Wright
The University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science selected Tim J. Wright as the 41st recipient of the Rosenstiel Award in recognition of his research to understand how the Earth’s crust deforms in response to tectonic forces. The Rosenstiel Award honors scientists who in the past decade have made significant and growing impacts in their field.
Wright, a professor of satellite geodesy in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, U.K., is the author of about 65 publications in scientific journals, most of them using satellite-based observations of crustal deformation. Major achievements include the discovery of a continental rifting event in Ethiopia’s Afar region, one of the few places on Earth where a mid-ocean ridge comes ashore. He was one of the first scientists to measure how plate boundary zones deform, solely relying on satellite observations using a technique called satellite radar interferometry. He investigated several major continental earthquakes using geodesy, seismology and geomorphology, including the Izmit earthquake (Turkey, 1999), the Denali earthquake (Alaska, 2002) and the Bam earthquake (Iran 2003). Wright was the principal investigator on a major international research project of the UK’s National Research Council to investigate continental rifting in East Africa. Currently, he is the joint principal investigator of a project to transform our understanding of continental tectonics and seismic hazard using the European Space Agency’s new Sentinel-1 satellite and serves as the director of the UK’s Centre for the Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics.
Professor Wright will present the 2015 Rosenstiel Award Lecture, entitled “Witnessing the Birth of Africa’s New Ocean,” on Friday, April 4 at 11 a.m. at the UM Rosenstiel School auditorium.
