之後,他進入麻省理工學院,主修地質學和地球物理學,並在該校先後獲得學士及碩士學位。在麻省理工之後,他前往哥伦比亚大学攻讀博士學位[4]。在哥倫比亞大學,他師承板塊運動學先驅杰克奥利弗,並在1965年以論文《短期地震波在海洋地區的傳播》(英語:The propagation of short-period seismic surface waves across oceanic areas.)获得的地質學哲學博士學位。在博士畢業後,他選擇留在哥大,加入拉蒙特-多爾蒂地球觀測所,並獲得了「希金斯地球與環境科學教授」的頭銜(英語:Higgins Professor for Earth and Environmental Sciences)。
^Sykes, Lynn R. Silencing the Bomb: One Scientist's Quest to Halt Nuclear Testing. New York: Columbia University Press. 2017. ISBN 9780231544191. OCLC 1004376702. About the author (2017): Lynn R. Sykes is Higgins Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He is renowned for his contributions to the science of seismology, especially plate tectonic theory. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
^Sykes, Lynn R. (1967). Mechanism of earthquakes and nature of faulting on the mid-oceanic ridges, Journal of Geophysical Research, 72, 5–27.
^ 4.04.1Dr. Lynn R. Sykes. Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. [2019-02-17]. (原始内容存档于2019-02-18).
^Isacks, Bryan; Oliver, Jack; Sykes, Lynn R. Seismology and the new global tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research. 1968, 73 (18): 5855. doi:10.1029/JB073i018p05855.