Professor Aster is an Earth scientist with broad interests in geophysics, seismological imaging and source studies, and Earth processes. His work has included significant field research in western North America, Italy, and Antarctica. Professor Aster also has strong teaching and research interests in geophysical inverse and signal processing methods and is the lead author on the previous two editions. Aster was on the Seismological Society of America Board of Directors, 2008-2014 and won the IRIS Leadership Award, 2014.