Research Team
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, Igneous Petrology, Rare Metal Deposits
kpfaff@mines.edu
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
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
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