UT Jackson School of Geosciences

10/27/2026

Our DeFord Lecture this week is by Marc Hirschmann, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Hirschmann uses high pressure/high temperature petrology experiments, together with analytical and theoretical tools, to investigate planetary interiors.

Don't miss it! And make sure to hang around after the lecture for coffee, cookies, and community!

10/23/2026

When water is pumped out of aquifers, the overlying land can sink. This movement can be subtle. But even changes of a few centimeters can contain a wealth of information about what’s happening in the subsurface below.

Just ask a team of researchers from the Jackson School, the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, and the Cockrell School of Engineering who are using remote sensing data and statistical methods rooted in Bayesian inference algorithms to peer inside aquifers from the outside.

In a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers applied their method to create a permeability map of a municipal aquifer in Nevada that shows how readily water flows through rock.

Co-author and Jackson School Professor Marc Hesse said this method could help inform sustainable water management by getting data that water managers need to understand how water is flowing underground.

A conceptual figure from the study showing how researchers used InSAR deformation data to create a permeability map of the…

10/22/2026

This week, the Jackson School’s Project SHIELD welcomed Japan’s National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) for a joint workshop exploring ways to build multi-hazard resilience on a changing Earth. Experts in earthquake dynamics, extreme weather, resilience science and more gathered to share ongoing research and explore opportunities for future collaboration.

Thank you for traveling to The University of Texas at Austin and for the great discussion!

10/20/2026

We have a special DeFord Lecture this week!

Naoki Sakai is the associate director of the Research Division for Storm, Flood and Landslide Disasters, a unit within Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, NIED.

Sakai's DeFord Lecture follows the joint NIED-SHIELD Workshop on Oct. 21, a collaboration in hazard science and resilience.

Stick around Boyd Auditorium for cookies and coffee following the DeFord Lecture! There will also be a dean's reception for those who are 21 and up.

10/19/2026

VnExpress.net spoke with Jackson School Professor Dev Niyogi about how the urban heat island effect can end up causing more extreme rainfall in cities, with the article zeroing in on the strange rainy season faced by Ho Chi Minh City this year. Their rainy season started off at a 20-year low, and was then followed by record rains in September and October.

In a 2024 study, Niyogi and collaborators found that Ho Chi Minh City receives nearly a foot more rain each year than its surrounding rural areas.

This article is in Vietnamese, but most browsers will offer to translate the text. If anything, don't miss the excellent interactive graphics!

https://vnexpress.net/mua-mua-di-thuong-o-tp-hcm-5132888.html

TP HCM trải qua chuỗi ngày mưa liên tục dồn vào cuối mùa với lượng mưa phá vỡ kỷ lục 46 năm, trái ngược với những tháng đầu mùa ít mưa bất thường.

10/16/2026

Join the Jackson School of Geosciences for our annual tailgate next Saturday, Oct. 24, from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Enjoy Interstellar barbeque and catching up with friends and alumni before UT takes on Ole Miss! 🤘 🏈

Register here: https://jsg-tailgate-2026.eventfarm.com/app/pages/d98b4127-2369-49be-9962-1fefc72ca440

10/14/2026

We've got another great DeFord Lecture lined up this week!

Yao Lai, assistant professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, studies ice and fluid physics, and pioneers machine learning applications in glaciology.

Don't miss her talk this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Hang around after for coffee and cookies outside of Boyd Auditorium!

10/13/2026

More than 150 students, researchers, alumni and friends of the Jackson School of Geosciences came out to our GSA reception in Denver on Sunday — including this group of friendly faces! (If you need a refresher, that's Dean Emerita Sharon Mosher, Dean Danny Stockli, David Lehman (Ph.D. '74) and former Dean Claudia Mora.)

Thank you to everyone who came out and celebrated with us!

Geological Society of America

10/10/2026

Ahead of the big Red River Rivalry game tomorrow, Jackson School Dean Danny Stockli met with OU Earth and Energy Dean John Antonio today to discuss energy geosciences research and education, strategic partnership, and just a little bit of football.

🤘Hook 'em!🤘

10/09/2026

Microbial or atmospheric? A new study published in Science describes a new method for determining the origins of nitrogen gas in aquatic environments by analyzing the abundance of a rare form of nitrogen.

The study puts the method to the test in a range of aquatic environments – including right here in Austin. Professor Bayani Cardenas, a co-author of the study, helped the research team collect groundwater samples from Hornsby Bend.

In one sample, 59% of the dissolved nitrogen was microbial in origin, a result that suggests substantial nitrogen production from microbes. These initial findings could help inform groundwater management and remediation monitoring.

The study was led by Jiarui Liu, a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA.

A group of biogeochemists have shown that a rare form of the gas can act as a fingerprint for microbial nitrogen conversion.