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Andrew Freed
Associate Professor
freed@purdue.edu

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Dept of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Purdue University
550 Stadium Mall Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907
ph. (765) 496-3738
Fax (765) 496-1210

Andy Freed, Associate Professor

After working as an aerospace engineer designing rockets, I went back for my PhD in geophysics at the U. of Arizona. Following a few postdoc positions (Carnegie Institution of Washington and Berkeley), I joined the faculty at Purdue in 2003.

I enjoy building finite element models to solve interesting problems in earth and planetary science, conducting GPS campaigns, mentoring graduate students, and giving science talks to the community. Away from work I like hiking with my family, surfcasting, and dogs. The photo shows Menemsha and Taylor.

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Current Graduate Students

Dave Blair, PhD Student

My name is Dave Blair, and I'm a Ph.D. student in planetary geophysics here at Purdue. I started in 2009 after having spent a few years working and realizing that I need to use my brain to be happy. I grew up in northwestern Philadelphia, and by the time I graduated from high school I had decided to make it my mission to help humanity colonize Mars. I began a degree in aerospace engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After about a year, I realized that Mars was a lot more interesting as a place than as a destination. I'd taken a geology class on a whim and loved it, so I changed my major and, in 2007 (technically 2008 thanks to administrative foibles), I received a B.S. in Geological Sciences. My current research involves finite element modeling of the Raditladi impact basin on Mercury; I'm trying to determine the origin of strange faulting features in the basin. Other research interests include cratering as a process, comparative planetary science, human space exploration, and astrobiology. I have more hobbies than you can shake a stick at: biking, baking, reading, and music (I play and teach piano, sang for a number of years in college, and play mediocre guitar and bass), to name a few. I also do some web design and programming for fun (like my Purdue website ), and I'm a big nerd in lots of other ways, too - D&D, sci-fi, video games, you name it.

Steeve Symithe, MS Student
My name is Steeve Julien Symithe; I am Haitian. I was born in Petion-ville, a little city in the South of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. I studied in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of State of Haiti since 2004 to 2009, where I obtained a diploma in civil engineering. After the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 12 2010, I was selected between two students to pursue a master in geophysics co-financed by Purdue University and the Voila foundation (a foundation of a telecommunication company in Haiti). Now, I am in my 2nd semester at Purdue University, where I am working with professors Eric Calais and Andy Freed on using GPS observations and other surface deformation to model crustal rheology and also to understand the different period of the earthquake cycle. I use to work in the Faculty of Sciences (Haiti) as a TA of Conceptual Physic and Algebra for students in the first year. My hobbies include listening music, watching movies, playing video games and basketball.