Course material (UT Austin Earth and Planetary Science (GEO) 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.
Earth from Lab to Planet (UT GEO 315L): S24,
S25
Undergraduate class focused on lab and computer experiments to
develop an understanding of how simple physical systems based on
key constitutive laws can be used to understand the Earth on
global scales.
A set of Jupyter notebooks of Python ODE and PDE teaching modules
developed by Dunyu Liu and myself, the
Github
repository includes teaching modules for
simple
driven harmonic oscillators, stick-slip friction, rate-state
friction, the Lorentz system, heat conduction, Stokes flow
(using an interface to FEniCX), as
well as surface transport problems (with an interface to
Landlab).
Tectonic
Geodynamics (UT GEO 350L/398L): S19, S20, S21,
S22, S25 Undergraduate major and grad student class on mantle and
lithospheric dynamics, combining tectonics and geodynamics to
understand the links between surface deformation and mantle
convection.
Physics of Earth (UT GEO 354/384D):
S24
Undergraduate major and grad class providing an
introduction to the theoretical and observational fundamentals for
an understanding of how the solid Earth works.
Crisis of our Planet (UT 302P/J): S18, S19, S20, S21, S22
Undergraduate intro class on
natural disasters, hazard, and risk. Links solid Earth
structure and
dynamics with societal considerations for natural hazards.
Becker, T. W. and Kaus, B. J. P (2020): Numerical Modeling of
Earth Systems: An introduction to computational methods with focus
on solid Earth applications of continuum mechanics, The University
of Texas at Austin, v. 1.2.2,
2020. (PDF,
accompanying Matlab code
for exercises)
Becker, T. W. and Kaus, B. J. P (2015): Numerical Modeling of Earth
Systems: An introduction to computational methods with focus on
solid Earth applications of continuum
mechanics. figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.1555628,
2015. (PDF)
Global
Solid Earth Dynamics (UT GEO 391): F20
Graduate seminar on planetary dynamics, from the magnetic
field to the carbon cycle and climate, with focus on terrestrial
planets in our solar system and exoplanets. Combines reading,
in-class discussion, and Matlab/python numerical modeling exercises.
Physics
and Chemistry of the Mantle (UT GEO 391): F19
Undergraduate major/graduate seminar on deep Earth dynamics,
focusing on the Earth's mantle, including the transition zone
and core-mantle boundary dynamics.
I participated in L. Husson and T. Bodin's Doctoral training school
for Solid Earth graduate students in Barcelonette, France, in October
2019. My geodynamics lectures were on
Short course at the University of Rome Three, June
2012. Provides a brief introduction to UNIX, shell scripting,
programming, the Unified Geodynamics Earth
Science Computing Environment, making maps with GMT, and
other data analysis and visualization tools.
Short course held the University of Roma TRE, April 2011, on
numerical and analog modeling of subduction zones and slab dynamics
on regional on global scales. Part of the Geodynamics Graduate
School at Roma TRE.
A set of Jupyter notebooks of Python ODE and PDE teaching modules
developed by Dunyu Liu and myself for UT GEO Lab
to Planet, an undergraduate class focused on lab and
computer experiments to develop an understanding of how simple
physical systems based on key constitutive laws can be used to
understand the Earth system.
The Github repository includes
teaching modules for
simple
driven harmonic oscillators, stick-slip friction, rate-state
friction, the Lorentz system, heat conduction, Stokes flow
(using an interface to FEniCX), as
well as surface transport problems (with an interface to
Landlab).
Short course on Mapping and Modeling Earth
Science Data (06/2012)
Introduction to UNIX, shells, shell scripting, and programming along
with a tutorial on GMT, UGESCE, mapping, and
some comments on data analysis and visualization.
Short course on GMT and mapping (without intro to UNIX, S12):
tutorial slides on GMT and iGMT.
A python-based graphical and script-driven interface to solid Earth
geodynamics and seismology modeling tools. The goal is to provide easy
but transparent access to research tools for teaching, and to
facilitate interdisciplinary research.
At UT Austin: Dorothy Linnemann (2017; Scripps College, with
Lavier), Jorge Garcia (2023; UT Austin), Violeta Andrade (2024,
2025; UC Berkeley).
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: Olivia Dittrich (2025 -), Alan Stone (2025 -),
Dhary Alrushaid (thesis committee member, 2024 - 2025),
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; Associate
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:
At UT Austin:
current: Gavin Blanchart (2025 -), Xiang He (2024-), and
Huiwen Sun (2022-).
Edward Clennett151 (PhD 2024, Instructor at
Birkbeck College)
Ethan M. Conrad152,159 (PhD 2024, Post-doc
at UCL)
Sujith Swaminadhan, (2025-),
Sohini Dasgupta (2023-),
Avigyan Chatterjee (2021-),
Chenyu Tian (2020-),
Chujie Liu (2017-2023, PhD 2023),
Keith Minor (2019-2022, PhD 2022),
Juan Gutierrez (2021-2022),
Eric Hiatt (2020-2021),
Brandon Schuck (2018-2021, PhD 2021),
Peter Nelson (2017-2020, PhD 2020),
Alexandra Lachner (2019-2020),
Yanyao Zhang (2018-2020),
Kristina Butler (2018-2020),
Chang Lu (2018-2020),
Brooklyn Gose (2017-2020), and
Lily R. Serach (2017-2019).
Other PhD committee service:
At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles:
Jessica Stellman93 (2014-2020),
William Schmidt (2015-2016),
Beth Paulson (2014-2016),
Xinjiang Xiang (2015),
Xin Song (2014-2015),
Xin Liu (2014-2015),
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), and
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-docs:
Chao Song (2024-)
Kaixuan Kang (2023-)
Chuanming Liu162 (2023-2025; Assistant Professor,
University of Missouri)
Junlin Hua149,164 (2022-2024; Assistant Professor,
USTC Hefei, China)
Antoniette Grima157 (2020-2022; Assistant
Professor, University
of Glasgow)
Eivind Straume155,165 (2021-2023; Post-Doc, University of Bergen)
Silvia Brizzi141 (2020-2022; Post-Doc,
Universit`a di Roma TRE)
Rob Porritt88,100,124,140 (2017-2019; Research Geophysicist, Sandia).
Matt Weller122 (2016-2019; Assistant Professor,
Rennselaer Polytechnical Institute)
Lukas Fuchs122,125,135,147,154 (2016-2018; Research
Scientist, Frankfurt University)
Attreyee Ghosh44, 68 (2008-2010; Associate
Professor, IISc Bangalore)
Boris Kaus20,31-33,40,62 (2005-2006;
Full Professor, Mainz University)
