Academic Profile : Faculty
Prof Emma Mary Hill
Chair, Asian School of the Environment (ASE)
President's Chair in Earth Sciences
Professor, Asian School of the Environment
Email
Prof. Emma Hill is Chair of the Asian School of the Environment (ASE), Nanyang Technological University. She also holds the position of Provost's Chair in Earth Sciences at NTU. Prior to joining NTU in 2010, Emma was a Postdoctoral Fellow and then Research Geodesist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA. She obtained her Ph.D. in Geophysics (2005) from the University of Nevada, Reno, USA, and her B.Sc. in Surveying and Mapping Sciences (1999) from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Emma was awarded a Singapore NRF Fellowship in 2011, the American Geophysical Union Geodesy Award in 2016, and a Singapore NRF Investigatorship in 2019.
Emma's research focuses on studying natural hazards and sea-level change in Southeast Asia, using space geodesy and numerical modelling. Much of her recent research has focused on understanding the tectonic behaviour of the Sumatran subduction zone, which has generated a host of great earthquakes in the last 15 years, using data from continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) stations. Her team are now using GPS to study many aspects of the earth system -- positioning for studying crustal deformation, estimates of tropospheric water to study monsoon patterns, estimates of ionospheric electron density to study “ionospheric tsunami” resulting from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and using reflections of the GPS signal off the ocean to study sea-level change.
In leadership, Emma was previously Director of Research and Strategy for the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), and Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Education for ASE. She has served on the NTU 2025 Strategic Planning Task Force, the NTU Graduate College Executive Committee and the Research Integrity Committee, among others. She is a graduate of the NTU Leadership Academy, and holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Past community service has including serving as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research (Solid Earth), as a member of the Council of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and as a member of the AGU Strategic Planning Task Force.
Emma's research focuses on studying natural hazards and sea-level change in Southeast Asia, using space geodesy and numerical modelling. Much of her recent research has focused on understanding the tectonic behaviour of the Sumatran subduction zone, which has generated a host of great earthquakes in the last 15 years, using data from continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) stations. Her team are now using GPS to study many aspects of the earth system -- positioning for studying crustal deformation, estimates of tropospheric water to study monsoon patterns, estimates of ionospheric electron density to study “ionospheric tsunami” resulting from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and using reflections of the GPS signal off the ocean to study sea-level change.
In leadership, Emma was previously Director of Research and Strategy for the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), and Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Education for ASE. She has served on the NTU 2025 Strategic Planning Task Force, the NTU Graduate College Executive Committee and the Research Integrity Committee, among others. She is a graduate of the NTU Leadership Academy, and holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Past community service has including serving as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research (Solid Earth), as a member of the Council of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and as a member of the AGU Strategic Planning Task Force.
Geodesy, natural hazards, earthquakes, sea level, natural disasters, tectonics, machine learning
- Southeast Asia SEA-Level Program (SEA2)
- Space-borne geodesy and remote sensing for understanding natural hazards, sea-level change and disaster response in Asia
- Driving Mechanisms of Past and Present Sea-Level Change to Quantify Projection Uncertainties
- Monitoring and Forecasting of Land-Height Change, Coastline Retreat and Coastal Flooding around Southeast Asia using Geodesy and Remote Sensing
- Integrating Volcano and Earthquake Science and Technology (InVEST) in Southeast Asia
- Integrating Volcano and Earthquake Science and Technology (InVEST) in Southeast Asia (NUS Project PI: Gregory Clancey)
- MOE Tier3b InVEST space renovation (N2-B3c-08)
- Integrating Volcano and Earthquake Science and Technology (InVEST) in Southeast Asia - SUPPLEMENTARY (CGO)
Awards
American Geophysical Union Geodesy Section Award (2016)
Fellowships & Other Recognition
NRF Fellow (2011)
NRF Investigator (2019)
NRF Investigator (2019)
Courses Taught
ES1003 Solid Earth
ES7002 Research Skills for Scientists
ES7015 Independent Study in InSAR
ES7021 Space Geodesy for Earth Science Applications
ES7002 Research Skills for Scientists
ES7015 Independent Study in InSAR
ES7021 Space Geodesy for Earth Science Applications