Michael Williams Wins GSA’s 2025 Structural Geology and Tectonics Career Contribution Award
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Michael Williams, a professor in structural geology, metamorphic petrology, and petrochronology in the College of Natural Sciences’s department of earth, geographic, and climate sciences (EGCS), was recently selected to receive the Geological Society of America (GSA) 2025 Structural Geology and Tectonics Career Contribution Award.
This award is given to “an individual who throughout his/her career has made numerous distinguished contributions that have clearly advanced the science of structural geology or tectonics.” Structural geology is “the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories,” and tectonics refers to “the processes that result in the structure and properties of Earth's crust and its evolution through time.”
“The award is an overwhelming honor for me personally because it is a recognition by colleagues and former students of the impacts of my research and teaching,” expressed Williams. “It is also a recognition of EGCS and the College. The research and teaching accomplishments would not have been possible without the infrastructure and the superb colleagues and students that have come to the University of Massachusetts over my 40-year career.”
Williams has been a faculty member at UMass since 1987. His research focuses on the confluence of ductile structural geology, metamorphic petrology, igneous petrology, geochronology, and tectonics. Much of his research has involved Precambrian rocks (in the southwestern U.S., northern Canada, and the Adirondack Mountains), but he has been increasingly involved with the rocks of western New England.
He is particularly interested in finding better ways to "read" the P-T-t-D (i.e., Pressure-Temperature-time-Deformation) paths from deformed and metamorphosed rocks, and interpreting the paths in terms of the tectonic history that produced them. This research is carried out not only through field work, but also through the application of electron microprobes and computer models.
Williams is now an emeritus professor at EGCS. He plans to continue his research and teaching in the department and is looking forward to working with talented graduate and undergraduate students.
Learn more about the GSA’s 2025 Career Contribution Awards.