Michael Ritzwoller

Michael Ritzwoller is a Professor of Distinction in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research focuses on observational seismology, particularly developing methods for surface wave tomography, ambient noise analysis, and 3-D crust-mantle modeling. He has pioneered techniques to integrate seismic data with geodynamical constraints and Bayesian Monte Carlo methods.

Education: Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego (1987).

Research Interests: Includes tectonic-scale seismic modeling, anisotropy studies, nuclear explosion detection via seismic discrimination, and applications of thermodynamic principles in inversion methods. His work emphasizes improving event location accuracy in nuclear monitoring contexts.

Awards & Honors:

• Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2005)
• Gutenberg Lecturer, American Geophysical Union (2013)

Teaching: Recent courses include General Physics, Mathematical Physics, Earth and Planetary Physics, and the History and Philosophy of Physics.

Labs & Affiliations: Affiliated with the Center for Imaging the Earth's Interior, producing 3-D seismic models and surface wave dispersion maps.