Melodie French, 2014 Geophysics Ph.D., joins Rice Faculty

Apr 29, 2016

Dr. Melodie French ’14 (Ph.D.) has accepted a faculty position in the Department of Earth Sciences at Rice University beginning July 1, 2016.

Melodie’s Berg-Hughes Center-funded research is published in Geofluids. Her Southern California Earthquake Center- and EarthScope-related Ph.D. research is published in Geophysical Journal International (1 paper), and in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth (2 papers).

Melodie received her B.A. in Physics with Honors in Geology from Oberlin College in 2006 and a M.S. in Geology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2009. While here, Melodie was an active member of the Center for Tectonophysics, earning a Ph.D. in Geophysics in 2014. After completing her degree in September of 2014, she worked with Dr. Wenlu Zhu at the University of Maryland - College Park as a postdoctoral scientist. In December of 2014 Melodie was awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship and is a 2015-2016 EarthScope Distinguished Speaker.

Melodie will be developing a new experimental rock deformation laboratory at Rice University. This new lab will contribute to the strength in rock deformation research in the mid-continent region, and will enhance the opportunity for student and faculty collaboration between the University of Oklahoma, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas A&M University, and Rice University.