Susan Beck personifies all of the attributes articulated in the intent of the Paul G. Silver Award: exemplary contributions in leadership, mentorship, collaboration, community involvement, and research. She has had a distinguished academic career at the University of Arizona since 1990. She has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of mountain building, crustal structure, earthquake processes, and seismic hazards.

What makes Susan particularly suited to receive the Paul G. Silver Award is that in addition to her contributions to science, she has been a tireless leader in her community, a steadfast mentor to her students, and a longtime advocate of inclusive and equitable international scientific collaboration. Nowhere is her dedication to her community more evident than in the great joy she takes in working with and learning from younger scientists. In the classroom, during fieldwork, and throughout the process of data analysis, interpretation, and writing, Susan leads with encouragement and by example. She takes special interest in bringing young women to the Earth sciences, encouraging their participation and helping erode barriers to their inclusion and advancement. Susan has the rare ability to see potential in everyone and to enable them to reach that potential. Of her 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, more than 60 have one of her students as lead author. Many who benefited from her mentorship occupy prominent positions at national laboratories, are tenured faculty in five countries across three continents, and work at a diverse suite of industries and private businesses.

Susan has been a key leader in large-scale community endeavors to improve our organizational culture and advance multidisciplinary and international scientific projects. While chair of the IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) board of directors, Susan led efforts to establish an Early Career Investigators group to help advance career opportunities for pretenure scientists, and she helped develop the IRIS International Development Seismology program to encourage collaboration in projects with researchers outside the United States. Her experience at IRIS in the development and management of the EarthScope project, along with her many contacts in South America (in particular, her engagement in scientific and organizational developments following the 2010 M 8.8 Maule earthquake in Chile), have made her an invaluable resource in the current efforts to establish SZ4D (Subduction Zones in Four Dimensions), a multinational effort to study the structure and seismicity of subduction zones.

The breadth and depth of Susan’s contributions to our science, its culture,

interdisciplinary structures, and diversity make her a fitting recipient of AGU’s 2023 Paul G. Silver

Award.

—David S. Simpson, President Emeritus, EarthScope/IRIS Consortium, Washington, D.C.

I am honored to receive the 2023 AGU Paul G. Silver Award for Outstanding Scientific Service from the Tectonophysics, Seismology, and Geodesy sections of AGU. I would like to thank David Simpson for the generous citation and all the other people involved in the nomination. I have been fortunate to be part of a generous seismology community that values collaboration and cooperation. The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) consortium got started as I was finishing my Ph.D., and I saw the immense change that came about due to collaboration, open data, and the value of building something from which everyone benefits. I was fortunate to be part of this cultural shift in seismology. IRIS changed my career trajectory in ways I could never have imagined. David Simpson and all the IRIS staff were a pleasure to work with in my many roles on the IRIS board of directors and IRIS committees over the years. I am confident that EarthScope (the merged IRIS UNAVCO organization) will continue to support and inspire the next generation of geophysicists. I have always strived to be inclusive and promote early-career scientists and international colleagues. Hence, I am especially appreciative of this honor. I want to thank all my international collaborators who have allowed me to participate in international seismology projects from Türkiye to South America. There are so many people who have inspired me to do scientific service, including George Zandt, David Simpson, Anne Meltzer, Lara Wagner, Maureen Long, Karen Fischer, Susan Schwartz, Anne Sheehan, Doug Wiens, Goran Ekstrom, Chuck Ammon, Aaron Velasco, Steve Roecker, Sergio Barrientos, Diane Comte, Patricia Alvarado, Mario Ruiz, Arda Ozacar, Thorne Lay, and George Davis. I also want to thank all my past and present graduate students, as they have all been amazing, taught me more than I could have imagined, and inspired me to do community service to improve seismology for everyone. I am fortunate to be part of a wonderful geosciences department that values scientific service and gave me the flexibility to participate in community activities. Finally, I would like to thank the AGU Tectonophysics, Seismology, and Geodesy sections for this honor. —Susan Beck, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson

Citation For novel interpretations of crustal and lithospheric evolution that have advanced our understanding of subduction and orogenic processes. Field Photos    

For fundamental contributions to our understanding of the Andean orogen in South America.