His work has focused on the development and usage of space geodetic techniques that can detect very precisely small movements of the Earth's surface. He successfully applied these technologies to study natural hazards and environmental phenomena, such as earthquakes, landslides, and wetland surface flow. He received a B.Sc in Earth Sciences (1983) and M.Sc. in Geology (1985) from the Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel) and an M.S. in Engineering Sciences (1987) and Ph.D. in Geophysics (1990) from Harvard University. Before resuming a faculty position at Tel Aviv University in 1994, he conducted a post-doctorate research at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD (1990-1993). He joined the University of Miami in 2001.