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 upper level undergraduate 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.

Geophysical Inverse Theory 

This graduate level course covers methods for solving inverse problems with numerous applications in geosciences. It investigates problems that use observational data to infer properties of an unknown physical model. Topics include method of least squares, estimation of uncertainties, linearization of nonlinear problems, the eigenvalue problem, the singular-value decomposition and non-linear problems in geophysics. 

Data Analysis for Geoscientists 

This graduate level course is a computer based course that introduces Python with applications to Earth and Planetary Sciences. Topics include variables, data structures, loop, modules, object oriented programming and the use of Python packages such as NumPy, Matplotlib, Pandas, ObsPy, PyGMT to analyze and plot geophysical, geological and climate data.