Grace Barcheck

Biography

Grace Barcheck joined the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University as an assistant professor in 2023. Grace's work is focused on understanding deformation of geologic materials, especially frictional sliding at the base of ice streams and glaciers in ice sheets, and on tectonic faults that may or may not host earthquakes. Her work has implications for understanding two major Earth hazards: sea-level rise resulting from accelerated ice stream and glacier motion in a warming world, and earthquake hazards. 

She earned her Ph.D. in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018, after receiving her B.A. in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010.

Research Interests

Barcheck uses seismology, geophysics, and machine learning to observe and understand processes contributing to sliding and deformation in a variety of Earth systems. She looks at processes happening in polar ice sheets as well as deep in fault zones. Current projects include finding and analyzing icequakes beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets to understand controls on ice sheet sliding, characterizing megathrust seismicity beneath Kodiak Island, AK with a dense nodal seismic array, and using machine learning to improve marine earthquake detection offshore in subduction zones. Her work has implications for understanding two major Earth hazards: sea-level rise resulting from ice sheet changes in a warming world, and earthquake hazard.