University of Saskatchewan – Geophysics: Combining Technology and Fundamental Science to Improve our World

Event Details

Date: September 23, 2026

Time: 1:30 – 2:30 PM (CST)

Format: In-Person and Virtual (Zoom)

Location: University of Saskatchewan, Geology Building, Room 265

Hosting Organization: University of Saskatchewan, Department of Geological Sciences

No registration required.

Zoom Access

Event Summary

Many key problems in the world are fundamentally geoscience problems. We will play a vital role in locating critical minerals, sequestering CO2 underground, finding energy resources, selecting sites for wind farms, and continuing to develop systems that warn populations of natural disasters. These contributions require an understanding of topics from geoscience to computer science and all are affected by and contribute to how technology changes. Drawing on contributions from the team and others, this presentation will highlight a series of examples in which we use and develop technology tailored to specific geoscience problems. We will discuss ‘right-sizing’ computations for CO2 sequestration, adapting machine-learning techniques to improve our understanding of geological structures like faults and mineral deposits, and even how we can use Minecraft to teach geoscience to others. The goal is for geoscience students to see some new applications and the technologies underlying them, for other science and engineering students to see exciting applications of their studies, and for experienced geophysicists to see some new applications and share toolkits to promote the breadth and excitement of geophysics.

Presenter

Professor Alison Malcolm is a geophysics prof in the Earth Sciences Department at Memorial University (MUN). Together with students, postdocs and other collaborators, she works to study more efficient ways to form seismic images of the subsurface and to understand how waves move through and interact with rocks.