Timothy M. Kusky

Timothy M. Kusky is an American geologist specializing in global tectonics, structural geology, and planetary sciences. He has held the position of Distinguished Professor at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Global Tectonics.

Career Kusky has held various academic and research positions at esteemed institutions worldwide. He began as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Houston from 1990 to 1992 before moving to Boston University, where he served as a Research Assistant Professor from 1992 to 2000. He then joined Saint Louis University, progressing from Assistant to Associate Professor between 2000 and 2009, and was appointed the P.C. Reinert Endowed Professor of Natural Sciences from 2003 to 2009. Concurrently, he worked as a Research Geologist (GS-15) at the U.S. Geological Survey in an intermittent capacity from 2003 to 2008.

In 2009, Kusky transitioned to the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, where he became a Distinguished Professor and Changjiang Scholar. He later took on leadership roles, serving as Director of the Center for Global Tectonics at the same institution from 2014 onward.

Awards and honors

Fellow of the Geological Society of America (2018) Fellow of the Geological Society of London (2022) Member of the Academia Europaea (2022) Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia (2025) Friendship Award and Medal Laureate, China Central Committee (2019) Highly Cited Researcher (Elsevier) Earth Science Leader Award (Research.com, 2023, 2024) Top 2% Global Scientist (Stanford University List, 2022–2024) – ranked in the top 0.1% of Earth Scientists