Min Ding

Background and research interests

Min is a fourth-year PhD student in Geophysics at the MIT/WHOI Joint Program. She is interested in using numerical modeling methods to investigate lithosphere dynamics and earthquake mechanisms. Under the guidance of Dr. Jian Lin at WHOI and Prof. Maria T. Zuber at MIT, her Ph.D. thesis will focus on lithosphere dynamics of the Earth’s subduction zones and supporting mechanisms of Mars’ topographic features.

Min and Jian have conducted detailed numerical modeling experiments to re-construct a history of stress buildup of the regions near the 2010 M8.8 Chile earthquake since 1835; they are now modeling the fault formation processes in the continental plate caused by the subduction of seamounts.
She is hoping to better understand the wave and tsunami signals in the geodetic data (e.g., GPS and tidal gauges) during the summer school. She is also interested in investigating the long-term tectonics in Chile and its relationship with the short-term seismic and tsunami processes.