Research Team

Research at the Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM) is conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Colorado School of Mines and Virginia Tech with expertise in economic geology, geochemistry, geophysics, spatial statistics, high-performance computing, mining, minerals engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Academic Leadership Team

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

Zhaoshan Chang

Professor, Mines
Economic Geology, Skarn Deposits, Porphyry Deposits, LA-ICP-MS, Magma Fertility
zchang@mines.edu
303-384-2127

John Chermak

Collegiate Associate Professor, VT
Environmental Geochemistry
jchermak@vt.edu
540-231-2499

Mary Doherty

Manager of the Professional Master’s in Mineral Exploration Program, Mines
medoherty@mines.edu
303-273-3930

Sebnem Düzgün

Professor, Mines
VR and Gaming for Earth Sciences; Uncertainty Analysis and Risk Assessment for Rock Slopes; Mine Environmental Monitoring; Infrastructure Resilience
duzgun@mines.edu
303-384-2357

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

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

Lenna House

Associate Professor, VT
Bayesian Statistical Modeling Uncertainty Analysis of Computer Models; Data Mining Coupled With Data Visualization
lhouse@vt.edu
540-231-2256

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

Aaron Noble

Associate Professor, VT
Mineral Processing, Mine Pollution Control, Process Economics
aaron.noble@vt.edu
540-231-0984

Andrew Petruska

Associate Professor, Mines
Complex Dynamic Systems, Advanced Magnetic Manipulation
apetruska@mines.edu
303-384-2021

Katharina Pfaff

Research Associate Professor, Mines
Mineralogy and Mineral Chemistry of Hydrothermal Systems
kpfaff@mines.edu
303-384-2487

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

Luis Tenorio

Associate Professor, Mines
Quantification of Uncertainty; Design Methods for Inverse Problems
ltenorio@mines.edu
303-273-3878

Erik Tharalson

Research Associate, Mines
Epithermal Au-Ag Deposits, Physical Volcanology, Igneous Petrology, Mafic-ultramafic Related Ni-Cu-PGE Deposits
etharals@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

Hua Wang

Associate Professor, Mines
Machine Learning and Data Mining
huawang@mines.edu
303-384-2326

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

Leslie Wood

Weimer Distinguished Chair and Professor, Mines
Quantitative Seismic Geomorphology, Clastic Reservoir Characterization, Tectonic and Sedimentologic Interaction 
lwood@mines.edu
303-273-3801

Menglie Zhang

Research Associate, Mines
Integration of Multi-Geophysical Data, Machine-Learning
menglizhang@mines.edu

Wencai Zhang

Assistant Professor, VT
Mineral Processing
wencaizhang@vt.edu
540-231-8110

Wendy Zhou

Professor, Mines
GIS Applications; Environmental Impact Studies and Geohazard Zonation; SAR and PSInSAR Applications in Ground Movement Monitoring
wzhou@mines.edu
303-384-2181

Graduate Students

Faisal Adams

PhD (Geoscience), VT

Aaron Adsit

MS (Geology), Mines

Alexander Ankamah

MS (Geosciences), VT

Joshua Arnold

MS (Mining Engineering), VT

Zaid Al-Attar

MS (Geology), Mines

Fredrick Engstrom

MS (Geology), Mines

George Fowlkes

MS (Geology), Mines

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 (Geoscience), VT

Zaid Nadhim

PhD (Geology), Mines

Lindsey Patterson

MS (Geology), Mines

Parth Dinesh Ranawat

MS (Geoscience), VT

Matthew Riley

MS (Geology), Mines

Daniel Schmidt

PhD (Geology), Mines

Isaac Simon

PhD (Geology), Mines

Bradley Squires

MS (Geology), Mines

Matthew Tascione

MS (Geoscience), VT

Riddhi Anil Thanki

MS (Geoscience), VT

Ahmad Tourei

PhD (Hydrology), Mines

Hyndavi Venkatreddygari

MS (Geoscience), VT

Lauren Zeeck

PhD (Geology), Mines

Undergraduate Students

Pablo Chang Huang

Geophysical Engineering, Mines

Matthew Barge

Mining Engineering, VT

Priya Bhat

Computer Engineering, VT

Sydney Deily

Geological Engineering, Mines

Grace Crespi

Mining Engineering, VT

Jack Dockrill

Mining Engineering, VT

Jacob Harrison

Geophysical Engineering, Mines

Sara Hirsch

Geophysical Engineering, Mines

Jackson Howard

Geophysical Engineering, Mines

Georgia Koutsouras

Mining Engineering, VT

Jacob Miller

Geological Engineering, Mines

Ryan Wienckoski

Mining Engineering, VT

Jiaqi Zhou

Mining Engineering, VT

Former Student Team Members

Former Graduate Students:

 

NameDegree ProgramSite
Hakan AyazMS (Quantum Engineering)Mines
Amin Abbasi Baghbadorani PhD (Geoscience)VT
Ryan ChristiansonPhD (Geoscience)VT
Mai Dahshan PhD (Computer Science)VT
Saad ElbeleidyPhD (Computer Science)Mines
Jake JeffersonMS (Geology)Mines
Alexandra JosephNon-thesis MS (Computer Science)Mines
David KozakPhD (Applied Mathematics and Statistics)Mines
Sage Langston-StewartMS (Geology)Mines
Lyujian LuPhD (Computer Science)Mines
Steven PiurkowskyMS (Geology)Mines
Christian RooneyNon-thesis ME (GIS and Geoinformatics)Mines
Anne RosettMS (Geology)Mines
Amit RotemNon-thesis MS (Applied Mathematics and Statistics)Mines
Daniel SchmidtMS (Geology)Mines
Hoon SeoMS (Computer Science)Mines
Isaac SimonMS (Geology)Mines
Erik TharalsonPhD (Geology)Mines
Alexander VidalPhD (Applied Mathematics and Statistics)Mines
Hao WuMS (Mathematics)VT

Former Undergraduate Students:

 

NameDegree ProgramSite
Azam AbidjanovComputer ScienceMines
Joshua Arnold Mining EngineeringVT
Mamadou BaMining EngineeringVT
Jacques Brown Mining EngineeringVT
Elizabeth BruceGeophysical EngineeringMines
Kane BruceComputer ScienceMines
Nathaniel CraigComputational and Applied MathematicsMines
Sean DelatteMining EngineeringVT
Garek Elie Mining EngineeringVT
Emily FittsGeophysical EngineeringMines
Joseph FlemingMining EngineeringVT
Nina GuizzettiGeological EngineeringMines
Ryland HansonComputational Modeling and Data AnalyticsVT
Ben HarringtonMining EngineeringVT
Chris Keesee Mining EngineeringVT
Sage Langston-StewartGeological EngineeringMines
Dawn LipfertGeophysical EngineeringMines
Colby McGradyMining EngineeringVT
Matthew MillerComputer ScienceMines
Meredith Olaya-Ramos Mining EngineeringVT
Nick PafundaMining EngineeringVT
Owen PottsMining EngineeringVT
Amit RotemComputational and Applied MathematicsMines
Joshua RummelhartComputer ScienceMines