Dr. Paul M. Betka
Geology Department
Western Washington University
ES 233A, MS-9080
516 High Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Email: betkap (at) wwu (dot) edu
Office phone: +1 360-650-2031
Current students (Western Washington Univ.)
DENA CHANCE, undergraduate researcher 2025-2026
Dena is a senior undergraduate student pursuing a BS in Geology with a Minor in Spanish and will graduate in Fall 2026. For her research, Dena is using fault kinematic analysis and RAMAN spectroscopy to examine the kinematic evolution of the Himalayan wedge in northeast India. This research is part of an NSF funded project focusing on the triple junction at the eastern terminus of the Himalayas. Dena is seeking a MS in structural geology/tectonics after graduating.
WAVERLY SHAUFLER, MS 2027
Waverly completed a BS in geology at WWU in 2023. She worked in consulting and as a mapping geologist for the Washington Geological Survey before returning for her MS. Waverly is now working on an NSF-funded project in Alaska studying strain accommodation of the accreted Wrangellia Composite Terrane. After her Masters, she hopes to teach or work in the public sector in geologic mapping and natural hazards.
NOAH GIESE, undergraduate researcher 2025-2026.
Noah’s research applies the Rf/phi method to deformed feldspar grains in a quartz-diorite sill that is a constituent of the Valdez Creek shear zone located in the Alaskan Range. The project will quantify sub-solidus strain accommodated by the sill to help assess the validity of thrust sheet, strain partitioning, and distributed shear kinematic models that characterize the suture zone between the Wrangellia terrane and North America.
CECI HOWES, MS 2026
Ceci completed a BA in Earth Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) in 2024. Ceci is now in the second year of their MS at WWU studying the Noa Dihing Fault in NE India. Ceci's thesis project focuses on ductile deformation using microstructure kinematic analysis, EBSD, field mapping, and Ar-Ar dating to address questions related to fault junctions in the eastern Himalayas. Ceci hopes to pursue a PhD and continue into a career in academia and research after finishing her MS.
JAKE SWARTZ, MS 2026
Jake completed a BS in Geology at Auburn University in 2024. He is now studying the structure and kinematics of the Naga fold-thrust belt in Northeast India as part of an NSF-funded project focused on continental fault junctions in the eastern Himalaya. Jake is working towards his goal of becoming a survey geologist for a federal or state agency and plans to continue his research by pursuing a PhD in structural geology and tectonics.
Former students
HANNAH ZEIEN, WWU undergraduate researcher, 2024-2025
Hannah completed a BS at WWU in 2025. Her undergraduate research project involved analyzing brittle fault kinematic data from the Indo-Burman Ranges and Cascadia. She completed a senior thesis on brittle deformation in the Lopez Structural complex and Darrington-Devils Mountain fault zone in Cascadia. Hannah is now an MS student in Geophysics at the University of Minnesota.
TOMAS URBINA, WWU student researcher
Tomás completed a BS in Geology at WWU in 2022. He participated in research on the structure of the Noa Dihing Fault in northeast India as part of an NSF funded project focused on continental fault junctions in the eastern Himalaya.
NATASHA TAGLE, GMU undergraduate researcher 2022
Natasha was a USGS EDMAP researcher, she studied the structural evolution of the North Mountain Fault Zone in the Appalachain foreland basin using 1:24,000 scale geologic mapping and GIS analysis of high resolution (1m) lidar digital elevation models. Natasha finished her Geology BA in 2022 and is now working as a contractor for USGS.
ALEX GRAY, GMU MS 2023, GMU undergraduate researcher 2021
Alex completed a BS in Geology at GMU in 2021 and an MS in 2023. He studied the structure and fault kinematics of the Naga fold-thrust belt in Northeast India and he is now a mapping geologist for the USGS Appalachian Basins research group. His undergraduate research explored methods for scaling and orienting high resolution structure-from-motion outcrop models using outcrop measurements.
AUSTIN MATHEWS, GMU MS 2022
Austin’s research interests include field-based structural, stratigraphic, and tectonic investigations, geographic tools such as GIS and remote sensing, and planetary geology. He studied the structure and fault kinematics of the Indo-Burman Ranges in India with a special focus on strain partitioning and implications for seismic hazard in the region. His future ambitions include combining structural analysis with geologic and geographic techniques to study the geology on other planets. Austin finished his MS degree in August, 2022 and he is currently working on DOE funded carbon-capture and storage research for a consulting firm in Virginia.
KRISTEN CHIAMA, GMU undergraduate researcher 2020.
Kristen’s research examines oblique convergence in the Indo-Burman Ranges along the Churachandpur-Mao Fault (CMF) zone in Mizoram, India. She combines field mapping and fault-slip analysis with tectonic geomorphology studies using high-resolution (~12 m) shaded relief topography and InSAR from Sentinel-1 data (2015-2020). Her work helps to characterize the kinematics of NW-striking splay faults adjacent to the CMF and can help to inform regional seismic hazard. After graduating from GMU in May 2020, she went to Harvard to pursue a PhD in active tectonics and seismicity.