UTIG Student Research

UTIG Student Research

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Student training is an important component of the research activities of the Institute. The Institute itself does not award degrees; rather the Institute maintains close relationships with the Department of Geological Sciences and the Marine Science Department through cooperative programs and joint faculty appointments. Many graduate and undergraduate students from UT and other universities and high school students take advantage of the opportunity to work with the staff and facilities of the Institute for Geophysics on projects related to funded research programs. Office space and computational resources are made available to students in the Institute laboratory. There are at present more than 50 students associated with the Institute.

Further information (including info on fellowships, research assistantships, jobs), is available regarding opportunities for prospective students.

211 grad students are enrolled at the JSG MS and PhD program in Fall, 2009; 47 (22%) of them work on their thesis and dissertation research with scientists at UTIG. Below is a list of graduate students working at the Institute for Geophysics.

Fall 2009

Student	Title/Topic	Expected Comple- tion Date	Degree	UTIG Supervisor	Committee Supervisor	Source of Support	Primary JSG ERG* Affiliation	Previous Institution /Major	Office #
Alhussain, Mohammed	Seismic characterization of fractured carbonate reservoirs	Spring 2013	PhD	Sen	Sen	industry support	Geophys	Curtin Univ of Tech, Perth, Aus/ Geophysics
Alvarez, Tricia	Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of shelf to deepwater basin systems in the tectonically active Southern Caribbean area.	Spring 2012	PhD	Mann	Mann	TA	Sed & Strat, Struc Geo & Tect	Univ Texas Austin/ Geosciences; Univ West Indies/ Geology	3.110H
Andrews, Lauren	Subglacial Controls on Greenland Ice Sheet Marginal Acceleration	Spring 2013	PhD	Catania	Catania	GRA	Geophys, Climate Systems Science	Carleton College /Geology	2.116K
Bernal Olaya, Rocio	Tectonics and geomodeling of the Lower Magdalena basin, Colombia	Spring 2011	MS	Mann	Mann	GRA on CBTH	Energy Geosc	Univ Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogota/ Geology	3.117
Brothers, Thomas	Geomorphic features on Mars icecap	Spring 2012	PhD	Holt	Holt	GRA on UTIG grant			2.254
Burnett, William	Three-dimensional velocity-independent seismic imaging using directional multi-azimuth attributes	Spring 2012	PhD	Stoffa	Stoffa/ Fomel	industry fellowship
Campos, Henry	Tectonics and petroleum potential of the Llanos foreland basin, Colombia	Spring 2011	MS	Mann	Mann	GRA on CBTH	Energy Geosc	Simon Bolivar Univ., Venezuela /Geophys	3.117
Chu, Chunlei	Seismic Modeling and Imaging with the Fourier Method: Numerical Analyses and Parallel Implementation Strategies	Fall 2009	PhD	Stoffa	Stoffa		Geophys	Ocean University of China/ Earth Prospecting and Information Technology	2.206
Comeaux, Rebecca	Implications of Black Mangrove Colony Expansion in Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Coastal Wetlands on Sea Level-induced Land Loss and Estuarine Productivity	Spring 2010	MS	Allison	Allison	GRA on UTIG grant, RA for JSG	Sed & Strat, MG & G	U. Texas, Austin/ Geology	3.101
Delbecq, Katie	Subsurface mapping, dating, and modeling of of prehistorical and historical tsunami and landslide deposits near Port Royal, Jamaica	Spring 2014	PhD	Hornbach	Hornbach	Ewing-Worzel Fellowship	MG & G	Earlham College/ Geology	2.116K
Eakin, Dan	Accretionary prism development and deformation in the pre-arc-continent collision transition zone offshore Taiwan	Spring 2011	MS	McIntosh	Lavier	GRA	MG & G	Univ Wyoming/ Geology	3.226
Frederick, Bruce	Analyzing East Antarctic subglacial sedimentary deposits with airborne radar, magnetics and gravity	2014	PhD	Blanken- ship	Blanken- ship	GRA	Geophys	Univ Miami/ Rosential School for Marine & Atmos Sciences/ Geology	2.242
Glidewell, Jennifer	Search for high-frequency teleseismic events in seismograms recorded by the Apollo lunar seismic network	Spring 2013	PhD	Frohlich		TA	Geophys	Univ of Houston/ Geophysics; Auburn Univ/ Geology	2.206
Gorman, Meaghan	Determining climate variability from coral geochemistry	Spring 2014	PhD	Quinn	Quinn	TA	Climate Systems Science	Boston Univ./ Earth Sciences	GEO 5.118
Graham, Emily	Three-dimensional gas migration and gas hydrate systems of south Hydrate Ridge, offshore Oregon	Spring 2011	MS	Bangs		GRA	MG & G	U. South Carolina /Geophys	3.226
Greenbaum, Jamin	Observing ice/ocean interaction with airborne radar and gravity	Spring 2012	PhD	Blanken- ship	Blanken- ship	GRA	Geophys	U Texas, Austin/ Aerospace Engineering	2.268
Hereid, Kelly	Understanding ENSO variability in the Western Pacific Warm Pool utilizing coral geochemistry	Spring 2012	PhD	Quinn	Quinn	TA for JSG	Climate Systems Science	Carleton College/ geology & biology	2.114
Huber, Kathryn	Lithospheric structure of eastern Antarctica	Spring 2014	PhD	Blanken- ship	Blanken- ship	GRA	Geophys	Louisiana State Univ/ Geology	2.242
Joy, Corey	Anisotropic reflection coefficients	Spring 2011	MS	Sen	Sen	Explora- tion Geo- physics fellowship		U Texas, Austin/ Mechanical Engineering	2.208
Lester, Ryan	Seismic imaging of the Taiwan orogen	Spring 2012	PhD	McIntosh	McIntosh	GRA industry fellowship	MG & G	Virginia Tech/ Geophysics; Trinity Univ/ Geosciences	3.226
Leuro, Erick	Spatial Distribution of snow accumulation rates in West Antarctica	Fall 2009	PhD	Blanken- ship	Blanken- ship	industry support	Geophys	Universidad Distrital, Colombia/ Surveying Engineering; Univ Texas Austin/ Geophysics
Logan, Liz	Modeling and parameterization of lithospheric deformation processes at the brittle ductile transition	Spring 2014	PhD	Lavier	Lavier	Gale White Fellowship	Geophys	Columbia Univ, New York/ Earth & Environ Sciences	3.102J
Lu, Shaoping	A Simulated Annealing Inverse Model Study of Abrupt Climate Change of the Last Ice Age	Spring 2010	PhD	Jackson	Jackson	TA		U Science & Tech China/ Applied Physics	2.242
Martin, Kylara	Geophysical investigations in the Nankai Trough and Sumatran subduction zones	Spring 2012	PhD	Gulick	Gulick	TA	MG & G	California Inst of Tech/ Geophysics	3.244
Maupin, Christopher	Coral-based records of Holocene tropical climate variability		PhD	Quinn	Quinn			U South Florida/ Ocean- ography; Eckerd College/ Marine Science	2.114
Patel, Paresh	Subduction modeling and flat subduction	Spring 2010	PhD	Grand	Grand	GRA on UTIG grant		Mass Inst Tech/ Chemistry	3.102J
Phan, Son	Uncertainty in reservoir parameter estimation	Spring 2011	MS	Sen	Sen	DOE grant			2.228
Punnette, Stefan	Seismic stratigraphy, structure, and tectonics of the southern Tobago basin and northern margin of Trinidad	Spring 2010	MS	Mann	Mann	industry fellowship	Sed & Strat, Struc Geo & Tect, Energy Geosc	University of the West Indies, Mona/ Geology	3.110A
Ramirez, Michael	Late Holocene Climate Change Sediment Record in South Island Fjords, New Zealand	Spring 2011	MS	Allison	Allison	Ewing-Worzel Fellowship	MG & G	Vanderbilt/ Geology	3.101
Reece, Bobby	The Surveyor Fan and Yakutat block tectonics in the Gulf of Alaska	Spring 2012	PhD	Gulick	Gulick	industry fellowship	MG & G	Skidmore College/ Geology	3.226
Richards, Travis	Seismic inversion for mapping bossier sand		MS	Sen	Sen	EDGER forum			2.206
Rodriguez, Anthony	Subsurface mapping and hydrocarbon potential of Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary sequences and structures in the Mexican sector of the Gulf of Mexico	Spring 2011	MS	Mann/ Galloway	Mann/ Galloway, Fisher	GRA on CBTH; McNair Fellow- ship; Weeks Fund Scholar- ship	Energy Geosc, MG&G, Struc Geo & Tect	Grand Valley State U/ Geology	3.117
Sanchez, Carla	Neogene Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Systems of the Australian Northwest Shelf	Spring 2012	PhD	Fulthorpe/ Austin	Steel/ Fulthorpe	GRA	Sed & Strat	U Texas, Austin/ Geology; Simon Bolivar U, Venezuela/ Geophysical Engineering	3.244
Santra, Manasij	Forearc basin in Oregon and New Jersey margin sediments	Spring 2011	PhD	Goff	Steel, Austin, Mohrig	TA	Sed & Strat	Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur/ Applied Geology; Presidency College, University of Calcutta/ Geology	GEO 6.126
Sawyer, Derek	Shear-induced consolidation and pore pressure in submarine landslides	Spring 2010	PhD	Flemings	Flemings	GRA	MG & G	Penn State Univ/ Geosci.; Eckerd College/ Marine Science	2.116L
Schneider, Julia	Compression and permeability behavior of fine-grained rocks	Spring 2011	PhD	Flemings	Flemings	GRA	MG & G	University of Bremen/ Geosciences	2.116L
Schroeder, Dusty	Ice penetrating radar, subglacial boundary conditions, ice sheet models, and uncertainty	2013	PhD	Blanken- ship	Blanken- ship	NSF Graduate Research Fellowship	Geophys	Bucknell University/ Electrical Engineering & Physics	2.268
Shahin, Alireza	Seismically Detecting and Discriminating Fluid Flow Over Reservoir Production Time	Fall 2011	PhD	Stoffa	Tatham/ Stoffa			Univ of Tehran/ Petroleum Exploration Engineering; Isfahan University of Tech/ Mining Exploration Engineering	2.126
Siks, Ben	Collaborative Research: Stratigraphic signatures of orogeny: Assessing the timing of initial Andean crustal shortening	Spring 2011	MS	Horton	Horton	GRA	Sed & Strat	Washington State University /Geology	GEO 4.118
Smith, Isaac	Ice morphology on the Northern Layered Deposits of Mars		PhD	Holt	Holt/Sen	GRA NASA	Geophys	Univ of Missouri - St. Louis/ Physics; Southwestern Univ, Georgetown, TX/ Physics	2.254
Stephens, Jason	Effects of Eustatic and Tectonic Forcing on the Development of Forearc Basin Sequence Stratigraphy	Spring 2010	PhD	McIntosh/ Fulthorpe	Tatham	Gale White Fellowship	Geophys	College of Charleston, SC/ Geology	3.244
Strong, Hilary	Exploring the origin and properties of mass transport deposits, Ursa Basin, Gulf of Mexico	Fall 2009	MS	Flemings	Flemings	GRA	MG & G	Univ of California, Los Angeles/ Geology	2.116J
Worthington, Lindsay Lowe	Structural evolution and geodynamic processes in the Gulf of Alaska: Implications for tectonic-climatic interactions	Spring 2010	PhD	Gulick	Gulick		MG & G	Univ. of California at Berkeley	3.244
Tao, Yi	Directional seismic interferometric imaging	Spring 2012	PhD	Sen		industry fellowship	Geophys	Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing/ Geophysics; Univ Science & Tech China/ Geophysics	2.228
You, Yao	Failure caused by breaching in subaqueous sand	Spring 2012	PhD	Flemings	Flemings Mohrig			Indiana University/ Geology; Peking Univ/ Geology & Mathematics	2.116J
Yu Xia	Edge-driven convection in the western U.S.	Spring 2012	PhD	Grand/ Pulliam	Grand/ Pulliam	GRA		Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing/ Geophysics; Univ Science & Tech China/ Geophysics

*ERG - Education & Research Group

334 undergrad geology majors are enrolled at the JSG MS and PhD program in Fall, 2009. Eight(2%) of them work as undergraduate research assistants at UTIG.

Student	Year	Degree/ Department	UTIG Project	UTIG Supervisor	Source of Support	Primary JSG ERG* Affiliation	Office #
Allan, Adam	Senior	BS DGS	linear seismic tomography	Sen	industry project		2.228
Choudhary, Prateek	Senior	Electrical Engineering/ Physics	Simulation of Mars orbital radar sounding data for subsurface echo detection and characterization	Holt	NASA grant
Code, Elizabeth	Sophomore	Nursing	GBDS	Ganey-Curry	industry project	Energy Geosc	3.105
Collins, Elizabeth	Junior	BS DGS	RA on UTIG grant	Lavier	NSF Grant
Desanto, John	Sophomore	BS DGS		Blanken- ship
Fitz, Guy	Senior	BS DGS	Papua New Guinea tectonics	Mann	NSF grant	Sed & Strat, Struc Geo & Tect
Kopriva, Bryant	Senior	BS DGS	Experimental flume studies of tsunamis	Hornbach	NSF Grant
Lewis, Dan'l	Senior	BS DGS	GBDS	Ganey-Curry	industry project	Energy Geosc	3.105
Morgan, Frank	Junior	BS DGS	Stratigraphic signatures of orogeny: Assessing the timing of initial Andean crustal shortening	Horton	NSF Grant EAR 0710793
Ott, Bryan	Junior	BS DGS	Papua New Guinea tectonics	Mann	NSF grant		3.110A
Srivastava, Sanchi	Junior	BS, Computer Sciences	CBTH	Mann	industry project	Energy Geosc	3.110A

Undergraduate Administrative Assistants

Student	Year	Department	UTIG Supervisor/Coordinator	Office #
Rubel, Joe	Junior	College of Liberal Arts	Taylor	LSF-176
Van Gaasbeck, Ron	Freshman	College of Liberal Arts	Yarbro	2.102
Ward, Corey	Junior	College of Liberal Arts	Yarbro	2.102

Visiting Students

Visiting students work at UTIG for two common reasons: as an internship needed for graduation from their home institutions; or because they are working on a dataset collected by UTIG scientists. Their degrees are granted by their home institutions and not UT.

Student	University	Degree	Project	UTIG Supervisor	Office #
Liu, Cong	China University of Geosciences	PhD	exploration/development of petroleum	Fulthorpe	3.102J
Liu, Tao	Peking University, Beijing, China	PhD	Hybrid FE/SEM seismic modeling	Sen	2.208
Pearson, Zulmacristina	Univ of Alaska, Fairbanks	MS	Seismic stratigraphy of Chixcilub crater, Yucatan	Gulick	3.102J