Research Team
Academic Leadership Team and Staff
Thomas Monecke
CASERM Director, Mines
Professor
Economic Geology, VMS Deposits, Hydrothermal Geochemistry, Archean Geology
tmonecke@mines.edu
303-273-3841
Erik Westman
CASERM Site Director, VT
Professor
3-D Seismic Time-Lapse Imaging, Reserve Estimation with Geographic Information Systems
ewestman@vt.edu
540-231-7510
Elizabeth Holley
CASERM Site Director, Mines
Associate Professor
Mineral Exploration, Production, Processing, and Reclamation
eholley@mines.edu
303-273-3409
Mary Carr
CASERM Manager, Mines
Research Assistant Professor
Sedimentology, Eolian Systems
mcarr@mines.edu
303-273-3107
Research Team
Mathias Burisch-Hassel
Associate Professor, Mines
Economic Geology, Crustal Fluids and Fluid Inclusions, Energy- and Technology-Critical Mineral Resources
burisch@mines.edu
303-384-2456
Mark Caddick
Professor, VT
Metamorphic Processes, Chemical Equilibrium and Disequilibrium in Rocks, Tectonic Processes
caddick@vt.edu
540-231-6521
Zhaoshan Chang
Professor, Mines
Economic Geology, Skarn Deposits, Porphyry Deposits, LA-ICP-MS, Magma Fertility
zchang@mines.edu
303-384-2127
Piyali Chanda
Research Associate, VT
Rock Carbonation, Thermodynamic Modeling
pchanda@vt.edu
540-231-2007
Geoffrey Ellis
Affiliate Faculty, Mines
Hydrogen Exploration, Gas Isotope Geochemistry
gellis@mines.edu
Ben Frieman
Research Assistant Professor, Mines
Structural Geology, Tectonics
bfrieman@mines.edu
303-273-3854
Aaron Goodman
Research Assistant Professor, Mines
Aqueous Geochemisty, spICP-MS, Nanoparticles
agoodman@mines.edu
Robert Gramacy
Professor, VT
Applied Computational Statistics; Spatial Statistics; Machine Learning
rbg@vt.edu
540-231-5657
David Higdon
Professor, VT
Bayesian Statistical Modeling, Uncertainty Quantification
dhigdon@vt.edu
571-858-3120
John Hole
Professor, VT
Seismic and Radar Subsurface Imaging; Inversion
hole@vt.edu
540-231-3858
Elizabeth Holley
Associate Professor, Mines
Mineral Exploration, Production, Processing, and Reclamation
eholley@mines.edu
303-273-3409
Simon Kocher
Research Associate, Mines
Porphyry Deposits, Carlin Deposits, Ore Mineralogy, Geochronology
skocher@mines.edu
303-273-3817
Andrea L’Afflitto
Associate Professor, VT
Autonomous Robots and Unmanned Systems, Control Theory, Lightweight Robotics
a.lafflitto@vt.edu
Yaoguo Li
Professor, Mines
Geophysical Inverse Theory; Gravity, Magnetic and Electrical Methods in Resource Exploration
ygli@mines.edu
303-273-3510
Eileen Martin
Assistant Professor, Mines
Analysis of Large Sensor Networks; Fiber-Optic Sensing; Passive Seismic Methods; Data-Intensive High Performance Computing
eileenrmartin@mines.edu
303-273-3451
Thomas Monecke
Professor, Mines
Economic Geology, VMS Deposits, Hydrothermal Geochemistry, Archean Geology
tmonecke@mines.edu
303-273-3841
Rohit Pandey
Assistant Professor, VT
Experimental Geomechanics, Flow in Porous Media, Mine System Engineering
rpandey@vt.edu
540-231-4718
Andrew Petruska
Associate Professor, Mines
Complex Dynamic Systems, Advanced Magnetic Manipulation
apetruska@mines.edu
303-384-2021
Ryan Pollyea
Associate Professor, VT
Geostatistics and Machine Learning; Multi-Component Fluid Flow; Fracture Systems
rpollyea@vt.edu
540-231-7929
Nicholas Polys
Director Visual Computing, VT
Intersection of Visualization, Virtual Environments, and Perception
npolys@vt.edu
540-231-0968
James Ranville
Professor, Mines
Environmental Geochemistry, Colloids, Field-Flow Fractionation
jranvill@mines.edu
303-273-3004
Xinxin Shao
Research Associate, VT
Autonomous Mining Equipment
xinxin@vt.edu
Omar Soberano
Post-doc, Mines
Economic Geology, Epithermal Deposits, Porphyry Deposits
Luis Tenorio
Associate Professor, Mines
Quantification of Uncertainty; Design Methods for Inverse Problems
ltenorio@mines.edu
303-273-3878
Lauren Terry
Post-doc, Mines
Economic Geology, Epithermal Deposits
lauren_terry@mines.edu
Gabriel Walton
Associate Professor, Mines
Rock Mechanics; Numerical Modeling of Slopes and Underground Works; Rockmass Characterization;
Applications of Geophysics and Remote Sensing in Geological Engineering
gwalton@mines.edu
303-384-2235
Jessica Weihermann
Research Associate, Mines
Radiometric Data Analysis
jderkaczweihermann@mines.edu
Erik Westman
Professor, VT
3-D Seismic Time-Lapse Imaging, Reserve Estimation with Geographic Information Systems
ewestman@vt.edu
540-231-7510
Menglie Zhang
Research Associate, Mines
Integration of Multi-Geophysical Data, Machine-Learning
menglizhang@mines.edu
Graduate Students
Jesse Addy
ME (Mining Engineering), VT
Aaron Adsit
MS (Geology), Mines
Alexander Ankamah
PhD (Geosciences), VT
Zaid Al-Attar
PhD (Geology), Mines
Dilara Bag
ME (Mining Engineering), VT
George Fowlkes
MS (Geology), Mines
Mattia Gramuglia
PhD (Mechanical Engineering), VT
Paul Henderson
MS (Geology), Mines
Randall Karcher
MS (Geology), Mines
Filip Kasprowicz
MS (Geology), Mines
Michael Kirschbaum
PhD (Geology), Mines
Miranda Lehman
PhD (Geology), Mines
Rose McGroarty
PhD (Geosciences), VT
Daniel Schmidt
PhD (Geology), Mines
Matthew Tascione
PhD (Geoscience), VT
Ahmad Tourei
PhD (Hydrologic Science and Engineering), Mines
Undergraduate Students
Aymane Askari
Mechanical Engineering, VT
Charles Cates
Mining and Minerals Engineering, VT
Elizabeth Ferguson
Mining and Minerals Engineering, VT
Aaron James
Mechanical Engineering, VT