I am interested in using seismology, combined with mineral physics and geodynamical modeling, to understand the mantle's physical properties, flow, and interaction with the crust. Topics of interest to me are hotspots, mantle plumes, and convective rolls; lithospheric strength boundaries and their role in strain partitioning; the mantle's role in past and present western U.S. tectonics and deformation; and the effect of petrological variations on the dynamical origin of mantle structure.