Thorsten W. Becker

Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin

Teaching and Mentoring


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teaching: UT GEOL: [TG 371], [GG 371], [302P/J]; other classes
[CIDER] [C] [UNIX/GMT] [SEATREE] [visuals]
My teaching interests include Natural Hazards, Geophysics, Tectonic Geodynamics, Deep Earth Dynamics, and Numerical Modeling.

Selected lecture notes, slides, maps, and other material

  • teaching and research visualizations
  • global plate tectonic maps for poster printing
  • Megathrust Modeling Framework (MTMOD) Summer School material

    Class material from UT Austin courses (GEOL codes)

    Some material below is hosted on university sites and may be inaccessible without UT login. Please get in touch by email if you are interested in any of the instructional material, and also check out
    my download page for already freely available material.

    Classes material from USC courses (GEOL codes)

    Summer schools and short courses

    Computing and scientific visualization in the Earth Sciences

    Community and outreach activities

    • Guest lecturer, Computer Science and Modeling of Earth Systems Cate School, Carpenteria, November 2014.
    • Leader for "Michael Heizer: Actual Size, Gallery Walkthrough" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 2012.

    Meeting of Young Researchers in the Earth Sciences (MYRES)

    I was involved with getting the Meeting of Young Researchers in the Earth Sciences (MYRES) off the ground.

    Mentoring and Training

    • Advising (superscript numerals refer to joint publication arising from supervised work)
      • Summer undergraduate interns:
        • At UT Austin: Dorothy Linnemann (2017, Scripps College, with Lavier)
        • At USC: Fabienne Stockmann (2014, Münster University), Simon Schneider (2013, Münster University), Kevin Milner35 (2008, USC), Jared Sain35 (2008, USC), Hannah Waterhouse35 (2008, Bryn Mawr College), and Katrin Plenkers (2005, Karlsruhe).
      • Undergraduate advisees:
        • At UT Austin: Miles Mackenzie (research advisor, Physics, 2022-2023), Jake Goins (research committee member, 2020 - 2021), Zel Hurewitz (BSc 2019, Physics; grad school UCSD)
        • At USC: Bradford Foley41 (BSc 2008; Assistant Professor, Penn State)
      • MSc students:
        • At UT Austin: Antoine Demont (visiting from ENS Paris, 2020), Kunpeng Liao (MSc 2018; CGG)
        • At USC: Zi-Yu Wu (MSc 2010; Guosen Securities) and Claire Steedman32 (MSc 2006; Iris Environmental)
      • PhD students:
        • Supervised:
          • current: Ethan Conrad (2019-, co-advisor), Edward Clennett151 (2020-), Huiwen Sun (2022-).
          • At UT Austin: Wanying Wang125 (PhD 2021; staff scientist at bp US), Erin Heilman146 (PhD 2023; staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory), Simone Puel128,144 (PhD 2023; post-doc at Caltech)
          • At USC:
            • Adam Holt87,89,90,92,105-107,113,115 (PhD 2016; Assistant Professor, U Miami)
            • Michael Kaplan (PhD 2015; post-doc, Duke)
            • Mélanie Gérault62,121 (PhD 2014; post-doc, MIT)
            • Thomas Goebel61, 69, 75, 77, 80, 111 (PhD 2013; Assistant Professor, U Memphis)
            • Lisa Alpert51,63,73 (PhD 2012; Aera Energy Llc.)
            • Iain Bailey38,47,51,63 (PhD 2009; Swiss Re).
        • Committee member/examination chair at The University of Texas at Austin:
          • Sohini Dasgupta (2023 - ), Avigyan Chatterjee (2021-), Juan Gutierrez (2021-2022), Eric Hiatt (external chair, 2020-2021), Chenyu Tian (2020-), Keith Minor (external chair, 2019-2022, PhD 2022), Alexandra Lachner (2019-2020), Yanyao Zhang (2018-2020), Kristina Butler (external chair, 2018-2020), Chang Lu (2018-2020), Brandon Schuck (2018-2021, PhD 2021), Lily R. Serach (external chair, 2017-2019), Brooklyn Gose (2017-2020), Chujie Liu (2017- 2020, Phd 2020), Peter Nelson (2017-2020, PhD 2020).
      • Other PhD committee service:
        • At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles: Jessica Stellman93 (2014-2020), William Schmidt (2015-2016), Xinjiang Xiang (2015), Xin Song (2014-2015), Xin Liu (2014-2015), Beth Paulson (2014-2016), Chris Milliner (2013-2015), Haoran Xia (2013-2015), Francoix Cadieux (PhD 2015), Feng Wang (PhD 2013), Prabu Sellappan (PhD 2013), Whitney Behr (PhD 2011), Zheqiang Shi (PhD 2008), Adam Fischer (PhD 2008), Jeremy Zechar (PhD 2008).
        • External PhD reviewer: Christopher Mathews (ANU, 2021), Angela Maria Gomez Garcia (U Medellin, 2020), Juliane Dannberg (GFZ Potsdam, 2016), Raquibul Hassan (U Sydney, 2016), Rene Gassmöller (GFZ Potsdam, 2014), and Sabin Zahirovic (U Sydney, 2014).
        • Member of the Board, International Graduate School, Department of Earth Sciences, Universita di Roma TRE, 2014-2022.
      • Post-doc mentoring:
        • Chuanming Liu (2023 -)
        • Kaixuan Kang (2023 -)
        • Junlin Hua149 (2022 -; co-advised with Steve Grand)
        • Antoniette Grima (2020-2022; Assistant Professor, University of Glasgow)
        • Eivind Straume (2021-2023; Post-Doc, University of Bergen)
        • Silvia Brizzi141 (2020-2022; Post-Doc, U Roma TRE)
        • Rob Porritt88,100,124,140 (2017-2019; Research Scientist, Sandia).
        • Matt Weller122 (2016-2019; Research Scientist, LPI)
        • Lukas Fuchs122,125,135,147 (2016-2018; Research Scientist, U. Frankfurt)
        • Attreyee Ghosh44, 68 (2008-2010; Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)
        • Boris Kaus20,31-33,40,62 (2005-2006; Professor, Mainz University)
        • Jules Browaeys22 (2006; Geophysicist, Total E&P Norge AS)
    • Undergraduate and graduate research opportunities
      • Please see the News Page for undergraduate and graduate study opportunities and how to get involved with research at UT Geodynamics.

  • Updated: September 29, 2023. (c) Thorsten Becker, 1997-2023.