Sean GallenView profile
Associate Professor
Prof. Sean Gallen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Colorado State University (CSU), USA. He holds a Senior Humboldt Research Fellowship at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, where he collaborates with Prof. Jean Braun's team in the Earth Surface Process Modeling section. His research integrates fieldwork, numerical modeling, geochronology, and GIS to study landscape evolution, tectonics, and natural hazards. Gallen earned his Master's (2008) from Western Washington University and PhD (2013) from North Carolina State University, followed by a Turner Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan. Research Focus: His work examines climate-landscape interactions, subduction zone dynamics, and extreme event impacts on erosion. Notable projects include studying Colorado Front Range topography using cosmogenic nuclides and modeling climate effects on volcanic island landscapes. His interdisciplinary approach addresses topics like tectonic uplift quantification, silicate weathering feedbacks, and landscape-fish coevolution. Awards: Recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2021) and Senior Humboldt Fellowship (2024). His research has been supported by NSF grants focusing on critical zone dynamics and subduction zone hazards. Current Projects: Investigating climatic controls on river incision in hotspot volcanoes and quantifying glacial erosion impacts on fault slip in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Collaborates internationally, including with Tribhuvan University (Nepal) on coseismic landslide studies.














