University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics

University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics With 27 faculty members, our undergraduate and graduate course offerings and research interests span a broad array of earth and planetary sciences.

Situated within the Rocky Mountains, our Department provides students with diverse opportunities for field studies. For example, the widespread Precambrian rocks and complexity of local structural geology provide an ideal setting for petrologic and structural students. Extensive Rocky Mountain basins are the focus of many sedimentological studies. In addition, we can offer many exciting research o

pportunities in landscape development, water management, volcanic history (Yellowstone), and climatic records from lake sediments. Our Department in also active in applied science. In tandem with the School of Energy Resources, we provide training and research in hydrocarbon exploration, carbon sequestration, water resources, and watershed management. We also have a very strong program in computational geophysics, with three new faculty that perform large-scale parallel computations to constrain seismic-wave propagation and hydrologic flow. G&G Faculty members have conducted research in Costa Rica, Antarctica, Norway, South America, the mid-Atlantic spreading ridge, Alaska, and Canada. Whether you come from a background in geology, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics or computation, we think you will be able to find a research group in our Department that will satisfy your professional goals, or at least sate your curiosity about how our planet functions and changes over time.

A new article by current UW faculty Dario Grana, Andrew Parsekian, and Cliff Riebe, former UW faculty member W. Steven H...
08/31/2026

A new article by current UW faculty Dario Grana, Andrew Parsekian, and Cliff Riebe, former UW faculty member W. Steven Holbrook, former UW graduate student Brady Flinchum, and coauthor Denys Grombacher explores how rock physics can help scientists “see” into Earth’s Critical Zone, the region extending from vegetation and soils down into weathered bedrock.

Understanding this hidden part of the Earth is important for studying groundwater, weathering, ecosystems, and how landscapes respond to environmental change.

Learn more in Eos:

Rock physics models translate geophysical measurements into volumetric rock and fluid properties to quantify weathering trends, water storage, and architecture within Earth's critical zone.

Welcome incoming freshman to the Department of Geology & Geophysics! We have over 25 incoming students into our Geology,...
08/27/2026

Welcome incoming freshman to the Department of Geology & Geophysics! We have over 25 incoming students into our Geology, EGGH, and Geography programs, representing over 17 states.

📸 Calling all photographers! The 2026 G&G Photography Contest is now open!Submit your best photos in four categories: 🏔️...
08/25/2026

📸 Calling all photographers! The 2026 G&G Photography Contest is now open!

Submit your best photos in four categories: 🏔️ Landscape, ⛏️ In the Field, 🔬 In the Lab, and 🐾 Pets!

📅 Submissions are due Friday, September 18. Winners will be announced at the G&G Homecoming Reception and have their photos displayed in the Department Atrium.

Submit here: https://bit.ly/UW-Geo-Photo-2026

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Julian Hernandez Diepenbrock on being awarded the Carlton R. Barkhurst Writing Fellow...
08/19/2026

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Julian Hernandez Diepenbrock on being awarded the Carlton R. Barkhurst Writing Fellowship!

Made possible through a generous gift from the late Irene Ahlbom Barkhurst, the fellowship supports graduate students as they work toward completing their dissertations and theses.

Julian’s research focuses on the Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs of Wyoming, helping us better understand these iconic dinosaurs, and is advised by Professor Mark Clementz.

Eva Smith is defending her dissertation, Integrated Near-Surface Geophysical Interpretation in Hydrothermally Influenced...
08/10/2026

Eva Smith is defending her dissertation, Integrated Near-Surface Geophysical Interpretation in Hydrothermally Influenced Systems, in the Berry Center Auditorium on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 9:00 AM and virtually via Zoom.

Zoom: https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/95412872013

Abigail Mensch is defending her MS thesis: 'Metal Liberation and Sequestration During CO₂ Storage in a Reservoir–Baffle ...
07/22/2026

Abigail Mensch is defending her MS thesis: 'Metal Liberation and Sequestration During CO₂ Storage in a Reservoir–Baffle System: An Experimental Study of the Hulett Member Sandstone, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA,' in the Berry Center Auditorium on Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 10:00 AM and virtually via Zoom (https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/99704750084

Congratulations, Dario, on this well-deserved honor! Professor Dario Grana has received the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal f...
07/20/2026

Congratulations, Dario, on this well-deserved honor!

Professor Dario Grana has received the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, recognizing his pioneering contributions to Bayesian inversion, statistical learning, and probabilistic rock physics. His work has advanced geophysical exploration and subsurface characterization, with applications spanning energy exploration and carbon sequestration.

Congratulations to Dario Grana, recipient of the 2026 Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal. Grana's work in Bayesian inversion, statistical learning, and probabilistic rock physics has advanced geophysical exploration and opened new possibilities for carbon sequestration and the energy transition.

Read more: https://go.seg.org/49QYEl2

Golshan (Goli) Pourhalaji is defending her MS thesis, "A New Settling Velocity Equation for Irregular Gold Flakes: Evalu...
06/15/2026

Golshan (Goli) Pourhalaji is defending her MS thesis, "A New Settling Velocity Equation for Irregular Gold Flakes: Evaluating and Extending the Dietrich (1982) Model", in room S.H. Knight GE 216 on Monday, June 22, 2026 at 10:00 AM and on Zoom (https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/96172932257).

Zachary Tenney is defending his MS thesis, "Nonmarine Facies Analysis and Refined Chronostratigraphy for Campanian-Maast...
06/15/2026

Zachary Tenney is defending his MS thesis, "Nonmarine Facies Analysis and Refined Chronostratigraphy for Campanian-Maastrichtian Formations in Central Wyoming and Implications for Paleobiogeography and Biostratigraphy of Laramidia", in S.H. Knight GE 216 on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at 10:00 AM.

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