degree in physics from Harvard University and a PhD in geology and geophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
[1][2] Royden has published important papers on thermal subsidence at the northeastern continental margin of North America and on retreating subduction boundaries formed during the collision of continental tectonic plates.
Royden was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2004.
[1] In 2013, she was awarded the Stephan Mueller Medal by the European Geosciences Union.
[4] In 1994, Royden was one of 16 women faculty in the School of Science at MIT who drafted and co-signed a letter to the then-Dean of Science (now Chancellor of Berkeley) Robert Birgeneau, which started a campaign to highlight and challenge gender discrimination at MIT.