Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty Directory

  • Professor of Natural Resource Economics, College of Business
  • Director of MS in Applied Natural Resource Economics
  • Affiliate Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Teaching Interests

  • Natural Resource Economics
  • Principles of Economics
  • International Economics

Specialties

  • Metal markets
  • Sustainability of mining
  • Social decision-making about resource use
Adam Durant

Adam Durant

  • Adjunct Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Research Interests

  • Geohazards
  • Meteorite Impact Cratering Process
  • Director, Marine Engineering Laboratory
  • Robbins Professor of Sustainable Marine Engineering
  • Research Professor, ME-EM, and Adjunct Professor, GMES

Research Interests

  • Large scale field experimentation in the Inland Seas of the Great Lakes and coastal oceans
  • Nearshore hydrodynamics and prediction
  • Autonomous and semi-autonomous environmental monitoring platforms (surface and sub-surface)
  • Underwater acoustic remote sensing
  • Marine engineering
  • Adjunct Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Teaching Interests

  • Computer Methods in Geomechanics
  • Computational Geoscience
  • Remote Sensing for Geotechniques
  • Geostatistics and Data Analysis
  • Engineering Geology and Geoinformatics

Research Interests

  • Liquefaction susceptibility evaluation at local and regional scales using in-situ measurements and remote sensing observations
  • Estimating liquefaction induced damage such as lateral spread displacement
  • Transportation Geotechniques
  • Documenting earthquake induced damages, especially liquefaction using aerial/satellite images that are sensitive to surficial moisture
  • Geotechnical asset monitoring
  • Machine Learning
Elisa Piispa

Elisa Piispa

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Robert Regis

Robert S. Regis

  • Adjunct Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Miriam Rios Sanchez

Miriam Rios Sanchez

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Lizzette Rodriguez

Lizzette Rodriguez

  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Research Interests

  • Monitoring of volcanic degassing: acquisition and analysis of volcanic gas emission data, specifically sulfur dioxide, using Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy and COSPEC
  • Depletion rates of sulfur dioxide in volcanic plumes
  • Near-vent sun photometry of volcanic aerosols (using sun photometers)
  • Volcano-atmosphere interactions
  • Volcanology and volcanic hazard assessment in the Lesser Antilles, Central and South America
  • Monitoring of ground deformation produced by volcanic activity, using the Global Positioning System
  • Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Courses Taught

  • Soil mechanics and foundation design
  • Advanced soil mechanics
  • Applied Machine Learning
  • Mechanics of materials

Research Interests

  • Soil and rock mechanics
  • Ground improvement and foundation design
  • Bio inspired Geotechnics/Foundations
  • Geomaterial behavior and testing
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning in geotechnical engineering
  • Measurement While Drilling (MWD) in geotechnical engineering
  • Slope stability and debris flow hazards
  • Stability of underground structures
  • Mine tailings and abandoned mines geohazards and remediation
  • Intellectual, numerical and analytical modeling
  • Founding Institute Co-Director (retired)
  • Senior Fellow, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Research Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications
  • Multispectral and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing
  • Applied Photo Imaging
  • Sea and Lake Ice
  • Environmental in situ Sensing

Research Interests

  • Great Lakes Remote Sensing
  • Ocean Optics
  • High Latitude Oceanography
  • Dynamic Decision Support Systems
  • Water Quality of Inland Lakes
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Research Interests

  • Paleomagnetism and paleointensity
  • Rock magnetism
  • Evolution of the Earth's magnetic field, planetary magnetism
  • Methodology of paleomagnetic and rock magnetic research
  • Software and hardware development
James Vallance

James W. Vallance

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
  • Geosciences Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Areas of Interest

  • Geosciences Education
  • Geoconservation
  • Geoheritage
  • National Marine Sanctuary
  • Great Lakes Indigenous Knowledge
  • University-Indigenous Community Partnerships