Events
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Doctoral Defense: Brandon Shuck
Start:July 1, 2021 at 9:00 am
End:
July 1, 2021 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 4.102
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for BRANDON SHUCK on JULY 1, 2021; 9:00AM; JGB 4.102 (Barrow Family Conference Room) and via Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Mechanisms Of Lithospheric Failure During Late Continental Rifting And Early Subduction” was supervised by Dr. Harm van Avendonk and Dr. Sean Gulick.
Committee members include: Donna Shillington, Nathan L Bangs, Thorsten Becker and Luc L Lavier
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/4732830175
Doctoral Defense: Evan Ramos
Start:July 1, 2021 at 10:00 am
End:
July 1, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Location:
JGB3.222
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for EVAN RAMOS has been scheduled for JULY 1, 2021; 10:00AM; JGB3.222 and Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Toward A Mechanistic Understanding Of Silicate Weathering And Li Transfer Across Landscapes, Past And Present” was supervised by Dr. Jaime Barnes and Dr. Dan Breecker.
Committee members include: Brady Foreman, Joel P Johnson and Daniella M Rempe
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/95141295703
Doctoral Defense: Wen-Ying Wu
Start:July 21, 2021 at 9:00 am
End:
July 21, 2021 at 11:00 am
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for WEN-YING WU has been scheduled for JULY 21, 2021; 9:00AM; JGB3.222 and Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Advancing the Application of Remote Sensing to Improve Land ?Surface Modeling” was supervised by Dr. Zong-Liang Yang.
Committee members include: Bridget R Scanlon, Bayani Cardenas and Daniella M Rempe
Doctoral Defense: Natasha Sekhon
Start:July 23, 2021 at 10:30 am
End:
July 23, 2021 at 12:30 pm
The final doctoral examination for NATASHA SEKHON has been scheduled for JULY 23, 2021; 10:30AM; Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “A monitoring and 20th stalagmite study from a shallow cave in New Mexico elucidating climate controls on geochemical variability with insight into stalagmite suitability for paleoclimate reconstructions ” was supervised by Dr. Jay Banner and Dr. Dan Breecker.
Committee members include: Bryan Black, Yuko M Okumura, Timothy M Shanhan
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/91054608576
The defense is open to all members of the University community and the public.
Hot Science At Home "To Err is Human"
Start:July 23, 2021 at 7:00 pm
End:
July 23, 2021 at 7:40 pm
Location:
Online (YouTube and Facebook)
Contact:
Didey Montoya, didey@austin.utexas.edu, 5124714211
View Event
Much of what we experience in our lives each day is entirely forgotten. So what leads our brains to store experiences in memory that help us navigate the world? Perhaps the most important signal is mistake-making. Formal schooling unfortunately conveys the message that becoming more skillful means making fewer mistakes, which is demonstrably untrue. Come and learn how mistakes lead to advantageous changes to our memories and are the key to learning.
Professor Bob Duke is a former studio musician and public school music teacher whose research at UT focuses on human learning and behavior. Along with Art Markman, he co-hosts the NPR program and podcast Two Guys on Your Head, produced by KUT Radio in Austin.
Time: 7:00 – 7:40 p.m.
The event will be streamed live through our Facebook and YouTube channels and will include a Q&A session. Additional information is available at www.hotsciencecooltalks.org.
DeFord Lecture | Shi Joyce SimOctober, 30 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) Dynamic Habitability: From Mid-Ocean Ridges to Europa by Shi Joyce Sim, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at Georgia Institute of Technology Abstract: Dynamic habitability is the evolving habitability of a system, e.g., Venus might not be habitable now but might have been in the past or even in the future. The essential components of life are a solvent, the right chemistry (i.e., CHNOPS), energy that can be taken advantage of and a suitable environment. In this talk, I will attempt to look at dynamic habitability from the perspective of Earth all the way to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Uniquely on Earth, plate tectonics is intricately linked to the habitability of our blue planet. Therefore, I embark on a journey to understand plate tectonics from a modeling perspective. First, I will explore melt transport beneath mid-ocean ridge settings, where there are crucial exchanges between the Earth’s interior and the surface. This melt transport has implications for seafloor morphology and the structure and composition of the oceanic lithosphere which forms the bulk of tectonic plates. Then, I will touch upon combining fluid transport with reactive thermodynamics to understand eclogitization of the overlying crust at a subduction zone. Going to one of our nearest planetary bodies, Mars, I use a combination of two-phase flow principles and planetary thermal evolution to model volatile trapping in the early Mars magma ocean to show that there are potentially more volatiles trapped in the Martian interior than previously thought. Water is one of the major components of habitability. To understand the dynamic habitability of Mars, I show how the distribution of water in the various reservoirs can evolve over time. I will end the talk by discussing future work on understanding dynamic habitability on other planetary bodies. |
UTIG Seminar Series: Shujuan Mao, UT AustinOctober, 31 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Shujuan Mao, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Texas at Austin Host: Zhe Jia TItle: 4-Dimnetional Seismology: New Dynamic Perspectives on Groundwater, Geoenergy, and Geohazards Abstract: With climate change and population growth, humanity faces critical challenges related to water security and the energy transition. Tackling these issues requires high-resolution monitoring of subsurface fluid-rock systems (e.g., aquifers and geothermal reservoirs). In this seminar, I will introduce a novel, cost-effective, and scalable approach for aquifer monitoring using passive seismic interferometry. The validity and promise of this approach will be demonstrated through several case studies of aquifers across Greater Los Angeles. I will showcase how the seismic approach offers new insights into aquifer dynamics in response to climate extremes and anthropogenic activities. I will present ongoing efforts leveraging 4D seismic interferometry and scattered wavefields to understand the dynamics in fluid-rock systems associated with geothermal and volcanic systems. |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesOctober, 31 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG Bldg 130, VR Room 1.116C Remote sensing, water resources presented In Person by Dr. Bridget Scanlon Research Professor, BEG |
Gateway to Graduate Studies in Sciences (G2S2)November, 06 2025Time: 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM |
DeFord Lecture | Don FisherNovember, 06 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) |
UTIG Seminar Series: Sophie Nowicki, University of BuffaloNovember, 07 2025Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 NOTE: This seminar is hosted jointly with the Bureau of Economic Geology and will be held at 3pm. The seminar will be followed by a reception in the first floor UTIG lobby at 4pm. Speaker: Sophie Nowicki, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University at Buffalo Host: Ginny Catania Title: Rising seas: a known future, yet deeply uncertain… Abstract: Antarctica and Greenland—Earth’s two largest remaining ice sheets—have been undergoing complex changes in mass since the first satellite observations and are major contributors to current sea level rise. While it is certain that these ice sheets will continue to lose mass, how they will evolve in response to ongoing and future climate change remains one of the most uncertain aspects of global sea level projections over human timescales and beyond. This uncertainty has driven significant advances in interdisciplinary research. Ice sheet projections are no longer just a problem for glaciologists; understanding how the atmosphere and ocean will change in a warming world is now equally essential. This presentation will highlight recent progress in modeling and projections of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, underscoring the value of international collaboration. It will also explore the challenges facing community modeling and observational efforts, while emphasizing the insights gained through these intercomparison projects—and the opportunities they offer for the future. |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series - Joint Session with UTIGNovember, 07 2025Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PMLocation: ROC Polar & Climate; Ice sheet modeling in global climate models presented by Dr. Sophie Nowicki University of Buffalo BEG and UTIG Joint Seminar - reception to follow. |
UTIG Seminar Series: Meredith Kelly, Dartmouth CollegeNovember, 14 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Meredith Kelly, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College Host: Nathan Bangs Research Theme: Climate & Polar; Role of the tropics in past climate changes |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesNovember, 14 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG VR Room 1.116C Approaches to writing manuscripts and a short overview of ranking of publications presented In Person by Dr. Robert Loucks, Dr. Bill Ambrose, Dr. Peter Eichhubl |
Hot Science - Cool Talks: Birds are Smarter!November, 14 2025Time: 5:30 AM - 8:30 AMLocation: Welch Hall 2.224 and Grand Hallway What can birds teach us about intelligence? They may have “bird brains,” but they can solve problems, use tools, and even share culture. In the next Hot Science – Cool Talks, Dr. Carlos Botero explores how intelligence evolves and how bird brain scans are helping scientists understand it better. With surprising examples of clever bird behavior, this talk will change how you see our feathered friends forever. |
UTIG Seminar Series: Xian Wu, UT DallasNovember, 21 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Xian Wu, Assistant Professor, Department of Sustainable Earth Systems Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas Host: Yuko Okumura Title: Tropical Pacific decadal prediction: the role of volcanic forcing and ocean initialization Abstract: Decadal climate predictions for the next 1 to 10 years provide critical information for climate adaptation and resilience planning, bridging the gap between well-established seasonal forecasts and centennial projections. As an initial condition–boundary condition problem, decadal predictions rely on both oceanic initial states and external radiative forcings. However, decadal prediction skill remains very low in the tropical Pacific, where ocean-atmosphere processes act as powerful drivers of global climate variations. Here, I will address whether this low prediction skill in the tropical Pacific arises from forecast system deficiencies or intrinsic limits of climate predictability. I will show that the tropical Pacific decadal prediction skill is unexpectedly degraded by the inclusion of historical volcanic aerosol forcing in the prediction system, due to poor model fidelity in simulating volcanic responses. In contrast, the no-volcano prediction system exhibits high skill, arising from the initial-condition memory associated with oceanic Rossby wave adjustment in the tropical Pacific. Furthermore, I will demonstrate the influence of other ocean basins on tropical Pacific decadal prediction through regional ocean initialization experiments. These findings improve our understanding of prediction system behavior in the tropical Pacific, which is crucial for advancing Earth system predictions. |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesNovember, 21 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMSediment-hosted metal deposits in rift basins, geodynamic modeling presented on Zoom by Dr. Anne Glerum GFZ, Helmgoltz Centre for Geosciences Germany |
Fall break / ThanksgivingNovember, 24 2025Time: 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM |