National honour for Southampton geophysicist

Dr Rychert has been appointed to the Royal Astronomical society’s Bullerwell Lecturership for 2014 in recognition of her achievements in seismic imaging of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle beneath locations including Ethiopia, Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands.

She will deliver a lecture on her work at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna in April and the British Geophysical Association postgraduate meeting in September and write an article for the RAS journal. The award to ‘an outstanding young geophysicist working in the UK’ is named after the first Chief Geophysicist of the British Geological Survey.

The Bullerwell Lecturer for 2013 was Dr Derek Keir, also from OES, who spoke about his research in the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia and continental break-up. He says Kate’s appointment is well-deserved: “She is a world expert in her research and her work has contributed to a better understanding of the world’s tectonic plates.”

Head of Geology and Geophysics Dr Justin Dix comments: “The Bullerwell Lectureship is a prestigious award for a young scientist in the early stages of their career and for Southampton colleagues to win the award in consecutive years is a wonderful achievement.”