Brendan Meade

Brendan Meade is a Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and a Faculty Affiliate of the Kempner Institute. His research focuses on earthquake cycle mechanics, topographic evolution, and computational geosciences, utilizing mathematical and machine learning approaches. He holds a BA in History of Science from Johns Hopkins University (1998) and a PhD in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from MIT (2004). After a postdoc at Harvard, he advanced to full professorship, with visiting roles at Google Research and DeepMind.

Research interests include geodetic imaging of fault systems, statistical earthquake modeling, and climate-tectonic interactions. Notable methods involve regional/global computational models constrained by GNSS and InSAR data to forecast seismic activity and quantify tectonic processes. Recent work integrates machine learning for aftershock prediction and fault behavior analysis.

Publications span seismic deformation, viscoelastic rheology, and tectonic dynamics, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches. Current openings exist for graduate students and postdocs in computational geosciences and machine learning applications. The Meade Group collaborates across academia and industry, leveraging advanced computational frameworks like Bem2d.jl for boundary element modeling.