Becker's group integrates field, laboratory, analog, and numerical approaches into geodynamical models, focusing on the physics of plate tectonics, from grain-scale deformation to plate-scale flow, and they are always looking for motivated undergraduate and graduate students to join their team.

Becker's teaching interests include Natural Hazards, Geodynamics, Physics of the Deep Earth, and Numerical Modeling of Earth Systems. He currently chairs the National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Seismology and Geodynamics and was Editor in Chief of AGU's journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems for nearly a decade.

Thorsten has a Ph.D. in Geophysics from Harvard, and was a Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Post-doctoral Scholar at Scripps, UC San Diego.