Zhou Ying

Zhou Ying is an Associate Professor of Geophysics at Virginia Tech's College of Science, Department of Geosciences. Her research focuses on understanding seismic heterogeneities in the Earth's interior through finite-frequency wave propagation theory and diffractional tomography.

• Ph.D. in Geophysics from Princeton University (2005)

Her research interests include:

• Seismic Wave Propagation in Heterogeneous Media
• Global and Computational Seismology
• Finite-Frequency Seismic Tomography
• 3-D Anelasticity (Q) Structure in the Mantle
• Seismic Anisotropy in the Upper Mantle and Transition Zone
• Core-Diffracted Waves and Core-Mantle Boundary Structure
• Signal Processing and Array Data Analysis

Zhou's 15 most recent publications span seismology, geophysics, and unexpected interdisciplinary topics like molecular biology. Most studies focus on mantle discontinuities, finite-frequency tomography, and outer core dynamics, with specific attention to 410-km/660-km discontinuities and surface-wave sensitivity kernels.

Current graduate advisee: Zhen Guo (Ph.D. candidate in Geophysics). Former advisees include Youyi Ruan (Ph.D. 2012), Kui Liu (Ph.D. 2014), Kai Deng (MS 2014), and Jing Xue (MS 2014). She teaches undergraduate courses in Physical Geology and Earthquake Seismology, and graduate courses in Theoretical Seismology, Advanced Seismology, and Seismic Data Analysis.