University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics

09/08/2026

Please join us for our first Distinguished Lecture Series of the semester on Monday, September 14th at 3:10 pm for a presentation in Geology room 216: "Before the Big Boom: The Pre-eruptive Lives of Supereruptions" presented by Dr. Ayla Pamukcu, Stanford University.

A reception will follow the talk in the Geology Atrium.

Guests or members of the public attending university sponsored events or programs who would like to request disability accommodations are requested to make the request to the University's Disability Support Services office at (307) 766-3073 or [email protected] as early in advance of the event or program as possible.

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.

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.

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

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.

08/14/2026

Dr. Ellen Currano, faculty member in the University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics, helped reconstruct Wyoming’s 56-million-year-old forests, providing new insight into how ancient forests responded to rapid climate change.

Read more about this recently published article here: https://www.uwyo.edu/news/2026/08/uws-currano-helps-reconstruct-ancient-wyoming-forest-canopy.html

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

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

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

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).