Introducing the Electromagnetic Geophysics Lab
2024/07/29
In January 2025, I am starting a new position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada. I am still in Stanford, California, USA, sitting in Caltrain heading to my office at Stanford University. I cannot believe that I spent 6 years in here, given it was only a one-year contract when I first moved here. I think that I planned about 2 years. Things are not always happening as planned, and I am such an optimist who has a tendencey to undestimate how much time that would take …
Looking back, however, it was amazing 6 years for my research as well as my personal life. Expanding my research scope to groundwater problems and building connections in the groundwater community has been such a joy, and great choice for my faculty applications. Without research here in the Environmental Geophysics Group led by Rosemary, I would have not been able to have an offer from the University of Manitoba. My family has grown up, my son, Daniel was born here, and he is becoming five this October!
It is interesting to be in a position that I need to design my research program. This forces me to be an indepedent researcher, which is super exciting, but a bit overwhelming at the same time. Looking ahead, for my new position, I decided to focus on advancing electromagnetic (EM) geophysics for minerals and groundwater applications for the next five years. My expertise in computational EM geophysics provides a holistic view on how various EM surveys can be utilized to reveal subsurface systems. My long-term goal is to establish a world-class research program that not only advances computational EM geophysics but also integrates EM geophysical data with information from other disciplines (e.g., satellite remote sensing, geology, geochemistry, hydrology). The ultimate objective is to address societal challenges in exploring and sustainably managing natural resources.
Just finished up writing a Notice of Interest for my NSERC Discovery Grant focusing on critical mineral development in Canada, which I really enjoyed. Two major research avenues that I laid out were: (a) seeing deep and covering large areas (often with challenging terrain) and (b) improving our understanding about frequency-dependent conductivity. For the first avenue, I will focus on investigating strategies for designing effective airborne and semi-airborne EM surveys. For the second avenue, I will focus on advancing our understanding about frequency-dependent conductivity due to chargeability of rocks. Chargeable rocks act like a capacitor, which can store applied energy and slowly discharge it.
Currently, I do not yet have a clear blueprint on what how I would obtain fundings for for groundwater applications. However, one obvious direction will be integrating EM geophysical data with data from other discplines including satellite remote sensing, hydrogeology, geochemistry. I have a particular interest in constraining hydrologic processes by integrating EM geophysical data into the process modeling (e.g., groundwater modellling, contaminant transport).