Suzan van der Lee

Suzan van der Lee is the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University, where she has been a faculty member since 2003. She previously served as Visiting Professor at Géoazur (Université Côte d'Azur) and held positions at ETH Zürich and Carnegie Institution of Washington.

• Education: Ph.D. in Geological and Geophysical Sciences (Princeton University, 1996), M.Sc. in Geophysics (University of Utrecht, 1990)

Her research focuses on seismology, planetary geophysics, and data-driven Earth dynamics, particularly through seismic tomography and machine learning applications. She has led major field experiments in Africa, the Americas, and Europe, contributing to understanding Earth's interior structure, plate tectonics, and Mars seismology. Recent work includes the Earthtunes app for public engagement and patent US 2023/0081541 A1 on optimized tomography.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2024-)
  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2024-)
  • NSF CAREER Award (2007-2012)
  • Sarah Rebecca Roland Professorship (2022-2027)

Her graduate students and postdoctoral researchers have advanced studies in seismic imaging, Marsquake analysis, and computational geophysics. She has served as Principal Director for NU-Geopaths and MCDC, and co-PI for the NSF Research Traineeship program ID3EAS.