Analyst | Visionary | Disruptor
An Unconventional Professor
Keywords: Big Data | Digital Twins | Earthquakes | Fieldcraft | Finite Element Models (FEMs) | Geomechanical Models | Geologic Hazards | Geothermal Systems | Hydrofracking | Induced Seismicity | InSAR | Machine Learning | Optimization | Salt Caverns | Solution Mining | Poroelastic | Tsunamis | Underground Storage | Volcanoes
Dr. Tim Masterlark, JSF | Mickelson Professor
Geology and Geological Engineering
South Dakota School of Mines
Rapid City, SD 57701 USA
PhD | University of Wisconsin-Madison
ESCAPE certified | US DoS Foreign Service Institute
Lean Six Sigma | US OPM Center for Leadership Development
Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership| ABET
Sheepdog Training | SEALFIT
Biosketch (Curriculum Vitae)
An unconventional journey
Mickelson Professor ► 25+ years of numerical modeling and machine learning investigations of earthquake and volcano deformation, induced seismicity, and detection and monitoring of underground storage facilities.
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Fieldcraft, Leadership, and Mental Toughness ► Laying down the personal responsibility, situational awareness, and mental toughness to successfully navigate and lead others through a chaotic world.
I am the Mickelson Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and started my career with the USGS National Center for EROS in 2001. I moved to the University of Alabama in 2005 and pioneered methods to embed Finite Element Models into Machine Learning applications to InSAR and other big data to investigate magma migration, earthquakes, and tsunami genesis from a probabilistic perspective. More recently, I began developing geomechanical models with my partners in the energy industry to simulate and monitor solution mining and underground storage of strategic energy resources in salt caverns. I authored more than 185 publications and was the Principal Investigator for research grants from NASA, NSF, and USGS. 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 Professor from South Dakota to earn this distinction. My JSF tour was an immersion in the training and operations of the US State Department's Diplomatic Security agents, who operate behind the scenes to make space for diplomacy in some of the most lawless places on Earth. I earned a Certificate of Achievement (USMC), Letter of Commendation (USMC), and the Meritorious Honor Award (Diplomatic Security) for my activities and contributions as a JSF. Prior to my academic career, I served as a paratrooper in the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
Prospective Graduate Students: This link will take you to my research page.
News and Upcoming Events
Want a piece of the action?
Solution Mining Research Institute (SMRI) Spring 2024, Krakow, Poland. My colleagues at WSP USA and I are invited to present analyses of the unique hazards for operating salt caverns in Earthquake country: Earthquake hazards for salt caverns caught in the convergence of tectonic plates.
Physical Geology Laboratory, Fieldcraft FTX. An unconventional experience in the South Dakota Badlands that prepares students to operate successfully in an unpredictable world. No other Freshman Geology course in the world provides this kind of training. See my Teaching Tab for more information. Spring 2024.
NSF-Sponsored Short Course. Probabilistic Scenarios for Megathrust Earthquakes and Tsunami Genesis FEMs for Earthquake Deformation. SDSMT Campus, May 8-10, 2024.
Dr. Tim Masterlark | Mickelson Professor
edited February 2024