Adam Holt
Department of Earth Sciences • University of Southern California • Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740
[email protected] • 805-550-4180
11 January 2015
EDUCATION
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. in Geophysics (GPA: 3.77)
Imperial College, London
M.Sci. Geophysics, First Class Honors (85%)
RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE
Expected 05/2016
09/2006 – 06/2011
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
09/2011 – Present
Ph.D. Research Major Project
Advisor: Dr. Thorsten Becker
• Investigating the role of stress-dependent rheologies, boundary conditions, and 3-D
geometry on the dynamics of subducting slabs, and the associated overriding plate
deformation.
• Simulations carried out using the finite element code CitcomCU and model analysis using
Python, GMT, and MATLAB.
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
09/2011 – Present
Ph.D. Research Minor Project
• Investigating the spatial distribution of high-frequency energy produced by slab-guided
waves in the Japan Trench region.
Imperial College, London
10/2010 – 06/2011
M.Sci. Research
Advisors: Dr. Rhodri Davies and Dr. Saskia Goes
• Utilized 3-D, mantle convection computations to investigate whether purely thermal
mantle plumes are compatible with hotspot observations.
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE
WORK
EXPERIENCE
University of Southern California, Los Angeles:
Teaching Assistant
Earth Sciences major course Geophysics
01/2014 – 05/2014
Teaching Assistant
Earth Sciences general course Earthquakes
01/2013 – 05/2013
Teaching Assistant
Earth Sciences general course Crises of a Planet
08/2012 – 12/2012
Jason-CGG, Leidschendam, Holland
07/2010 – 09/2010
Geoscience Software Testing Internship
• Conducted acceptance testing for the previous release of the Jason Geoscience Workbench
3-D seismic inversion software. Constructed well ties, stratigraphic models, and wavelets
to conduct geophysical inversions on a range of datasets.
Chevron (ETC), Houston, Texas
08/2014 - 10/2014
Geoscience Internship
• Assimilated seismic data, well records, and geological information in order to conduct a
back-stripping analysis of a passive margin.
HONORS &
AWARDS
• Provost’s Ph.D. Fellowship, University of Southern California
08/2011 – Present
• Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Southern California
01/2013 – 05/2013
• Edward Glorney Scholarship for Highest Degree Score, Imperial College
06/2011
• R. Stoddart Longcroft Prize for Academic Excellence, Imperial College
06/2007
• UK Mathematical Challenge Gold Awards, UK Mathematics Trust
2005, 2006
PUBLICATIONS
Holt, A. F., Becker, T. W., and Buffett, B. A.: Subduction dynamics and overriding plate
stress in thermo-mechanical subduction models. In press at Geophys. J. Int., 2015.
Sun, D., Miller, M. S., Holt, A. F., and Becker, T. W.: Hot upwelling conduit beneath the
Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 8037-8044,
doi:10.1002/2014GL061884, 2014.
CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGS
Holt, A.F., T.W. Becker, and B.A. Buffett (2014). Overriding plate thickness control on
subducting slab curvature. AGU Fall Meeting 2014, San Francisco.
Jagoutz, O. E., L. Royden, A. Holt, and T. W. Becker (2014). It Takes Two to Tango: The
Timing of the India –Eurasia Collision and the Origin of the Super-Fast India-Eurasia
Convergence Rates. AGU Fall Meeting 2014, San Francisco.
Miller, M.S., D. Sun, L. O’Driscoll, A.F. Holt, A.J. Butcher, T.W. Becker, J.D. Cusi, C.
Thomas. Imaging pockets and conduits of low velocity material beneath the lithosphere of
the Atlas Mountains of Morocco: links to volcanism and orogenesis. AGU Fall Meeting
2014, San Francisco.
Holt, A.F. and T.W. Becker (2014). Mantle flow and overriding plate stress state in 3-D
models of thermo mechanical-subduction. CIG Workshop, Banff, Canada.
Holt, A.F. and T.W. Becker (2013). Dynamics of 3-D thermo-mechanical subduction with
an overriding plate and plasticity. AGU Fall Meeting 2013, San Francisco.
Holt, A.F., T.W. Becker, and B.A. Buffett (2013). Free subduction dynamics of a thermomechanical slab with an overriding plate. CIDER Workshop 2013, University of California,
Berkeley.
Holt, A.F., T.W. Becker, and B.A. Buffett (2012). Free subduction dynamics of a thermomechanical slab with non-linear rheology. AGU Fall Meeting 2012, San Francisco.
TECHNICAL
SKILLS
• Programming: MATLAB, Python, C, Awk/Gawk, Shell scripting.
• Visualization: Generic Mapping Tools (GMT), Paraview, Earthvision.
• Editing: LaTeX, Vim, Emacs, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Miscellaneous: Seismic Analysis Code (SAC), ArcMap, Kingdom Suite, Jason
Geoscience Workbench.