Teaching

Geosciences in the Movies

Geosciences in the Movies is a science class for undergraduate non-majors that provides an introduction to Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences using popular (and not so popular) movies as support material for visual learning. Topics include Earth structure and tectonic processes, climate change, impact craters and space exploration. The course uses scientific concepts introduced in the films and how their depiction compares to reality as a springboard for learning the underlying science. Each week the class reads a chapter from the class textbook, answers multiple questions based on the reading material, watches a different movie (outside of class) and numerous clips from other movies (in class), and together we discuss the science behind the various depictions.

Global Geophysics

This course introduces central concepts of solid earth geophysics as applied at the global or planetary scale. I cover plate tectonics and dynamics of the lithosphere; seismology and earth structure; geothermal behavior and heat flow; isostasy and gravity; and geodynamics and planetary geophysics

Digital Signal Processing

This graduate level course provides an introduction to the central concepts of digital signal processing that are routinely used in a wide range of disciplines in geosciences and engineering. It emphasizes understanding and implementations of theoretical concepts, methods and algorithms. Major parts of the course will concentrate on signal analysis using Fourier transforms, linear system analysis and more.