Biosketch

An unconventional journey

Mickelson Professor and Distinguished Professor of Geophysics ► Want to use the flexibility and power of Finite Element Models to understand the Earth's structure and processes? Let's talk.

Fieldcraft, Leadership, and Mental Toughness ► Inspiring situational awareness, mental toughness, and personal responsibility to successfully navigate and lead others through a chaotic world.

I am the Mickelson Professor and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at SDSMT. As a new professor at the University of Alabama in 2005, I pioneered methods to embed finite element models into Machine Learning-based optimization applications for InSAR and other big data to investigate magma migration, earthquakes, and tsunami genesis. During this time I was awarded a grant from NASA's prestigious New Investigator Program. In 2012, I was invited to expand these methods at SDSMT. I am building new partnerships with industry to simulate and monitor solution mining and underground storage of strategic energy resources in salt caverns. I authored more than 200 publications and reports and I have been the Principal Investigator for competitive research grants from NASA, NSF, USGS, and JAXA. I serve as an advisor and reviewer for a multitude of US and foreign agencies. I was selected by the US National Academies as a Jefferson Science Fellow (JSF), the first from any South Dakota university. As a JSF, I was attached to the Special Projects Team in the US Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, where I earned a Certificate of Achievement (USMC), Letter of Commendation (USMC), and the Meritorious Honor Award (Bureau of Diplomatic Security) for my activities and contributions. Prior to my academic career, I served in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, US Army.