GRFP Opportunity: Earth's reservoirs and the energy transition: New Mexico Tech


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EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP): Workforce training to understand Earth's reservoirs and the energy transition

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Faculty in the Earth and Enviormental Sciences department were recently funded by NSF to support six graduate students over a three year period who received honorable mention on a GRFP proposal within the last five years.

The proposal (NSF 2500349) is part of the EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP) program, and is focused on "Workforce training to understand Earth's reservoirs and the energy transition".

The graduate student positions are available under this project will address frontier challenges in understanding Earth resorvoirs and the energy transition across a wide range of topics and disciplines, and are outlined in detail below. If one of these opportunities is of interest, please reach out to the associated listed faculty for more information. General questions can be directed to Dr. Laura Waters (laura.waters@nmt.edu) or other faculty listed below.

Opportunity 1: Geochemistry

Determining the partitioning of critical minerals (i.e., elements that are essential for the development of renewable energy technologies and in sensitive supply chains) between solid + fluid + melt requires both high temperature experiments and a robust thermodynamic database for the solid, liquid and melt phases of interest. This opportunity centers around using high temperature and pressure techniques (cold seal pressure vessels) to develop thermodynamic models to better describe the stability of REE-bearing minerals (i.e., monazite, xenotime and/or biotite). The student will receive training in isotope dilution experiments at 400-700°C that are targeted at addressing the solubility of an end member REE phosphate (or binary mixture) in acidic fluids. The student will also receive training in the construction and operation of cold seal pressure vessels. Crystalline run products will be examined for isotope diffusion via laser ablation mass spectrometry and electron microprobe. Many aspects of the work can be partially tailored to the interests of the applicant, but research activities should utilize experimental petrology.

Applicants should include a statement of their interests beyond the scope of the project described here in the cover letter. Collaborations for this project include other NMT faculty members (Dr. Alex Gysi, Dr. Nicole Hurtig), national labs (LANL, Ames, PNNL), the USGS (Denver) and other Universities (ASU, NMSU). Please contact Laura Waters (laura.waters@nmt.edu) for more information.

Candidates are preferred to have inorganic chemistry and or physical chemistry, but it is not required. Candidates are preferred to have completed an undergraduate thesis but it is not required.

Applicants with degrees and research experience in inorganic chemistry, with a background in mineralogy may also qualify for this position.

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11257

Opportunity 2: Geomechanics

Rock fracture is a dominant feature throughout the crust, from the surface to the brittle-ductile boundary. Fractures form due the brittle rupture of rocks, but can be driven by a range of processes across twelve orders of magnitude of rates – from mechanical weathering to asteroid impacts. This project studies the feedbacks of fluid chemistry and hydraulic properties on fracture in silicate rocks across all twelve orders of magnitude. We have proposed a hypothesis that the behavior of fracture across those rates can be predicted in a rate-free way. But, currently consistent experimental datasets or molecular scale understanding of the controlling processes do not exist across the needed range of failure rates. We are recruiting two positions. We are recruiting an experimentalist student with a background in geomechanics, geophysics, geochemistry or physical chemistry, or geological engineering to run these experiments, working in collaboration with researchers at LANL, NETL and Merrimack University. Experiments will be conducted in conjunction with strain visualization across rates, and forensic sample characterization, fractography and design of testing apparatuses.

For more information, please contact Dr. Alex Rinehart at alex.rinehart@nmt.edu.

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11265

Opportunity 3: Geodynamics

A frontier challenge across the energy transition involves understanding how fluids move and interact with the solid Earth. These interactions are fundamental components of solid Earth reservoirs hosting geothermal, critical mineral, and natural hydrogen systems, but significant challenges remain in understanding these systems due to the complex nature of fluid-rock interaction and vast spatiotemporal scales over which they occur.

This opportunity seeks to improve our understanding of fluid-rock interaction across the energy transition spectrum through hypothesis-driven fundamental and applied research using state-of-the-art (1) geophysical and geochemical modeling and (2) AI/ML workflows. Given the scope of the project, the opportunity is open to highly motivated students with a wide range of backgrounds, including geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology, physics, applied mathematics, engineering, and computer science.

In particular, we encourage applicants who are eager to learn and apply new computational techniques that help bridge areas of specialized research fields. Throughout the project the student will have the opportunity to use state-of-the-art high performance computing resources and build associated skill sets that can be applied across a wide range of research and industry positions.

Examples of potential student projects include:

Use of AI/ML to integrate geochemical and geodynamic modeling with applications toward critical mineral formation
Modeling of hydrothermal systems from the deep to shallow Earth
Development of open-source geodynamic software for fluid-rock interaction to improve physical capabilities and computational speed.

Significantly, this opportunity can be applied to a wide range of topics and we encourage applicants with associated novel ideas within this broad scope! For more information, please contact Dr. John Naliboff (https://www.nmt.edu/academics/ees/faculty/jnaliboff.php) at john.naliboff@nmt.edu.

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11266

Opportunity 4: Geophysics

This project will focus on exploiting signals from a variety of near surface/surficial sources to explore the subsurface structure and to interpret surface processes. Traditionally, surficial sources such as bedload transport, streams, road traffic, ocean waves and other environmental signals have been considered ‘noise’. The addition of new instrumentation – distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS systems with seismic wave sensing at the sub-meter spatial resolution for up to kilometers – and of improved theory –surface wave interferometry – have created a new field of environmental seismology.

We will collect seismic and DAS data at locations ranging from river systems around the Southwest during flood events to an outdoor flume at UT-Austin running sediment transport experiments to define the very shallow seismic structure necessary to constrain seismic-hydrologic models that form the basis of environmental seismology. We will also collect DAS and seismic data in local/regional basins in collaboration with local water managers to examine spatiotemporal changes in shallow seismic velocity that can be linked to groundwater changes. We seek students with a background in geophysics, geology, physics, mathematics, geological engineering or other relevant fields.

For more information, please contact Dr. Susan Bilek at susan.bilek@nmt.edu

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11267

Opportunity 5: Energy Transition in the Geosciences: Geochemistry, Geodynamics, Geomechanics, Geophysics 1

We are conducting a multidisciplinary search to fill a graduate position in a project related to the energy transition in the Energy Transition in the Geosciences Graduate Fellow Cohort at New Mexico Tech.

The opportunity spans the fields of geochemistry, geodynamics, geomechanics, and geophysics, and includes the following specific topic areas and mentors include:

Geochemistry- High temperature experiments on critical mineral solubility in acidic fluids, developing a solution model for biotite (Contact Laura Waters; laura.waters@nmt.edu)

Geodynamics- Computational approaches (AI/ML) to understand geothermal systems, critical mineral mobility in Earth, and hydrogen production (Contact: John Naliboff; John.naliboff@nmt.edu)

Geomechanics- Experimental tests to understand fracture propagation, ab initio simulations of fracture propagation (Contact: Alex Rinehart; Alex.rinehart@nmt.edu)

Geophysics- Utilization of near-surface and surface signals to explore subsurface structure and to interpret surface processes (Contact: Susan Bilek; susan.bilek@nmt.edu)

These topic areas may be scoped out to better align with the candidates' personal interests. Please contact Laura Waters (Laura.waters@nmt.edu) with any questions related to these opportunities. Other advisors are available for mentorship in projects related to the energy transition. A full list of projects and potential mentors can be found above under opportunities 1-4.

In all cases, the applicant's cover letter should explain the specific project and advisor they are interested in working with, as well as any aspect of the listed research projects that can be tailored to their personal interests (if any exist).

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11268

Opportunity 6: Energy Transition in the Geosciences: Geochemistry, Geodynamics, Geomechanics, Geophysics 2

The opportunity spans the fields of geochemistry, geodynamics, geomechanics, and geophysics, and includes the following specific topic areas and mentors include:

Geochemistry- High temperature experiments on critical mineral solubility in acidic fluids, developing a solution model for biotite (Contact Laura Waters; laura.waters@nmt.edu)

Geodynamics- Computational approaches (AI/ML) to understand geothermal systems, critical mineral mobility in Earth, and hydrogen production (Contact: John Naliboff; John.naliboff@nmt.edu)

Geomechanics- Experimental tests to understand fracture propagation, ab initio simulations of fracture propagation (Contact: Alex Rinehart; Alex.rinehart@nmt.edu)

Geophysics- Utilization of near-surface and surface signals to explore subsurface structure and to interpret surface processes (Contact: Susan Bilek; susan.bilek@nmt.edu)

Apply Here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8243/opportunity/11269