Cara Burberry

Dr. Cara Burberry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), where she has been a faculty member since 2010. She leads the Deformation Research Group, focusing on tectonic inheritance and penetrative strain through remote sensing, analog modeling, and fieldwork in regions like the Rocky Mountains, Zagros Belt (Iran-Iraq), and Kalimantan (Indonesia). She earned her PhD from Imperial College London in 2008, with research collaborations at Penn State and Uppsala University.

Her research explores:

• Tectonic inheritance: How pre-existing fractures/basement structures influence deformation.
• Penetrative strain: Quantifying sub-resolution deformation in fold-thrust systems.
• Carbon sequestration: Assessing CO₂ storage potential in Nebraska's geology.
• Vietnam tectonics: Analyzing block fragmentation in Indochina.

Dr. Burberry teaches courses including Principles of Structural Geology, Advanced Structural Geology, and Tectonics, emphasizing hands-on fieldwork. She has supervised 8+ MS students and 16+ undergraduates in projects spanning fracture topology, seismic interpretation, and analog modeling.

She serves as Senior Associate Editor for AAPG Bulletin and Associate Editor for Marine Geophysics, and contributed to IODP's 2050 Science Framework. Her research is funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust and NSF.