Ben van der Pluijm is B.R. Clark Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan (UM). He completed his B.S. and M.S. in the Netherlands and his Ph.D. in Canada before joining the faculty at Michigan in 1985; he retired in 2024. His research with about 35 graduate students and 20 postdocs spans four decades of field-oriented work in Appalachian and Grenville paleogeography, crustal architecture, rates and dates of orogenic evolution, U.S. Midcontinent geology, and clay-rich fault rocks. In recent years his interest has been the timing and fluid history of clay-bearing fault zones, including the Rockies, Pyrenees and Appalachians, and the San Andreas Fault system. His teaching includes courses on structure&tectonics and introductory offerings in geology and global change. In recent years his teaching and public outreach lectures focus on societal resilience to geo-environmental challenges. He has co-authored over 200 publications, and print and online editions of the textbook Earth Structure.

Ben has served on many institutional and professional committees, panels and publication boards. He served as director of the UM Global Change program, as lead coordinator of NSF’s $200+M sustainability program and several years in the UM-Provost office.  He served in multiple GSA roles, including its research panel, Publications Committee, and co-editor of Geology.