With ~110 million landmines and other UXO buried worldwide, causing 15,000-20,000 casualties each year, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. I believe the key to solving this devastating problem is to combine the subsurface imaging power of multiple geophysical sensors and techniques with machine learning and unmanned aerial vehicles. To this end, my Ph.D. project is focused on building a prototype of a smart drone, whose mission is to identify landmines and UXO with speed and accuracy. Please click here to learn more about my project!
The critical zone, which is the uppermost layer of Earth's crust, is still largely unknown in the geosciences. The dynamics of this area are important to understand, as they impact everything from agriculture to hydrology and beyond. The geophysical sensors and techniques aboard my Ph.D. project's design overlap with those used in critical zone science. One of the missions of this project is to explore how the drone may be used to assist in critical zone studies, especially in areas too remote for ground-based measurements.