Cynthia J. Ebinger

Geoscientist Cynthia J. Ebinger is the Marshall-Heape Chair in Geology in Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering, where she also leads the university's Geophysics and Active Tectonics Research Laboratory (GATR). Her research focuses on tectonic and volcanic processes in continental rifts and passive margins, and their implications for earthquake and volcanic hazards, energy and mineral resources, and plate boundary evolution. Ebinger's research contributes to global data as well as local tracking for earthquakes in Louisiana.

Through GART, she leads work to acquire novel data and develop analytical and numerical models to detect deformation of Earth’s plates and to understand the dynamics of Earth processes. Ebinger's GATR group considers the combined or separate effects of tectonic, deep Earth (dynamic), seasonal hydrological, magmatic, and anthropogenic processes driving the thermo-mechanical deformation.

Ebinger's training in marine geophysics led to a post-doc at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and later faculty positions at the University of Leeds, University of London, and University of Rochester. She serves on the Executive Board of the American Geophysical Union College of Fellows, and she leads the Tulane Space Science and Engineering Task Force. She is a Fellow of the AAAS, American Geophysical Union, and Geological Society of America. Ebinger also serves as a Jefferson Science Fellow with the U.S. Department of State, advising on critical minerals, energy resources, and climate resilience.

Ebinger received a B.S. from Duke University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.