UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The spring 2022 Celebrating Women in Energy and Water Research seminar series will launch on Thursday, Feb. 24 with two talks by Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte, distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University. The free seminars are open to Penn State faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students. Registration is required.
The first talk, “Open to Opportunities,” an experiential seminar and interactive session, will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 402 Steidle Building on Penn State's University Park campus and online via Zoom. Pyrak-Nolte will discuss the trajectory of her path through science and engineering in relation to the opportunities that arose and were taken along the way.
An hourlong technical seminar, “Illuminating Fractures with Novel Sources & Machine Fractures,” will follow at 4 p.m. in 401 Steidle Building and online via Zoom.
The technical seminar will focus on the injection of fluids through fracture networks within rock and the need to extract physically measurable parameters that are directly linked to hydraulic and mechanical properties for safe, long-term management of a site. Laboratory results of active and passive monitoring of fractures will be presented with examples of machine learning used to identify changes in fluid saturation within a fracture set.
Pyrak-Nolte's interests include applied geophysics, experimental and theoretical seismic wave propagation, laboratory rock mechanics, micro-fluidics, particle swarms, and fluid flow through Earth materials. She earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering science from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a master of science in geophysics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a doctorate in materials science and mineral engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
The seminar series is sponsored by the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and is designed to celebrate women conducting energy and water research, to highlight their successes, to engage women students, and to provide an opportunity for faculty to establish and expand their professional network and mentoring relationships. Previous seminars are viewable online at the department's YouTube channel.