Work Team

 

 

Victor VilarrasaVíctor Vilarrasa (Principal Investigator)

I am a tenured scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). I am Civil Engineer by training. I got my degree in Barcelona, at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). I did my master thesis at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. After two-year professional experience in the construction sector, I decided to pursue my career in academy. I did my PhD in Civil Engineering at the UPC on geologic carbon storage, during which I did a short stay at Stanford University. My PhD thesis dissertation was awarded with honors “Cum Laude” and I received the Special Doctoral Award of the UPC to the most outstanding doctoral theses defended during the academic year 2011-12.

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Iman RahimzadehIman Rahimzadeh Kivi (Post-doctoral fellow)

I hold BSc, MSc and PhD degrees all in petroleum engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran. During my academic career, I have conducted research on both experimental and computational geomechanics. I did both my MSc and PhD research at AUT Geomechanics Lab. My PhD research included simulation of hydro-fracturing and hydro-shearing in shale gas resources within the theoretical framework of multi-scale plasticity and damage mechanics. I have also participated in three research projects on the experimental evaluation of the geomechanical behavior of reservoir rocks at AUT geomechanics lab.

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GEoREST - Sara Hanson-HedgecockSara Hanson-Hedgecock (Post-doctoral fellow)

My current research interest is in combining attributes of induced seismicity, such as derived source mechanisms, models of fracture generation, event statistics, pumping information, etc. to develop a better understanding of how induced seismicity is generated and propagates for use in evaluating seismic hazards and developing more safe and efficient stimulation. Additionally, correlating temporally varying microseismic activity to subsurface models may give insight into how fracturing develops and what observations can be used to monitor and optimize treatments in unconventional and geothermal plays.

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Oksana Vovkodav (Post-doctoral fellow)GEoREST - Oksana Vovkodav

I got my BSc and Specialist (equivalent to MSc) degrees in Automation and Computer – Integrated Technologies in Kyiv (Ukraine) at the National University of Food Technologies. After that I did my PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences (Mechanics of Solid Deformable Body) at the Institute of Mechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. My PhD thesis was dedicated to solving different problems of the stress - strain state orthotropic spherical shells of variable thickness. In my research for the thesis and after I was analyzing influence of changes in thickness parameters, as well as s in geometrical, mechanical and force parameters on the stress-strain state of spherical shells.
Since February 2023, I am part of the Climate Change Research Group, IMEDEA-CSIC, as a post-doc researcher.

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Yuliia Semenova (Post-doctoral fellow)GEoREST - Yuliia Semenova

I received a BSc and specialist's degree (equivalent to an MSc) from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Later, I defended two doctoral dissertations at the S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics (IGF) of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, earning me both a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and a Doctor of Sciences (DSc) degree in the field of geophysics.
My primary research focus lies in seismic hazard assessment, seismic protection, and the study of seismic site effects. Specifically, I investigate the various factors influencing seismic hazards, develop strategies for seismic protection, and analyze site-specific seismic responses to enhance structural resilience.
My PhD research focused on investigating nonlinear effects in soils subjected to seismic loading and improving methods for integrating nonlinear soil response into the design of earthquake-resistant structures.

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GEoREST - Dario SciandraDario Sciandra (PhD student)

I am a PhD student at the Institute of Environmental Assasment and Water Research (IDAEA) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). I am enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Civil Engeneering of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC).

I was a student at "La Sapienza" University of Rome and I graduated both for my BSc and MSc there. My bachelor and master involved Geotechnical Engineering as the main topic. During the bachelor thesis I had the opportunity to study some phenomena resulting from the seismic risk on the earth dams. During the master thesis I faced the numerical modelling of deep foundation using the Material Point Method (MPM), considered an update of the classic FEM. I worked with Deltares Research Institute (Delft, NH) at the unit of Geo-engineering, department Soil and Structures to make the MPM code more friendly and validate it in two particular cases of pile installation.

Between the 5th and the 8th of June 2018 I participated at the International Conference on Deep Foundation and Ground Improvement organized in Rome by the Deep Foundation Institute (DFI). Since January 2020 I am a member of the Italian Geotech- nical Association (AGI).

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GEoREST - Iman VaeziIman Vaezi Anzeha (PhD student)

I’ve got my BSc in Civil Engineering from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman and MSc in Geotechnical Engineering from Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. My previous research experiences are in numerical simulation of porous media, cemented material dams, and geotechnical uncertainty analysis. My MSc thesis was about modeling of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading aiming at merging fully explicit dynamic finite element simulation with fully coupled (HM) formulation to analyze soil displacements and pore water pressures.

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Aurégan Boyet (PhD student)GEoREST - Aurégan Boyet

I acquired my MSc in Geosciences and Environment, specialization in Energy Resources at the Institut Polytechnique Unilasalle Beauvais, during a 5-year cursus. I write my MSc thesis concerning Topography controls on initiation and properties of runoff-generated debris flows during an internship at Earth Surface Process Modelling section of the GFZ - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam.

I have joined Groundwater and Hydrogeochemistry research group at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research of the Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC) as a PhD student to work in modeling induced post-injection seismicity as a result of fluid injection/extraction related to geothermal energy, geologic carbon storage and subsurface energy storage within the GEoREST project and the doctoral program of Civil Engineering in Technical University of Catalonia (UPC).

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Linus Walter (PhD student)GEoREST - Linus Walter

I obtained my diploma in engineering (equivalent to M.Sc.) in the study programe ‘Geotechnical Engineering and Mining’ from TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany. Consequently, my main background is in applied rock mechanics and soil mechanics with a focus on the mitigation of geohazards.
In addition, I wrote my diploma thesis in the field of reservoir engineering. Its principal subject related to the numerical modelling of hydromechanically coupled processes in a fractured reservoir at the Geretsried Deep Geothermal Project in Germany.
Since July 2021, I have been working as a PhD student in the GeoREST research project at IDAEA-CSIC. My main field of investigation is the ‘Prediction of Induced Seismicity by the Application of Machine Learning’.

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Sri Kalyan Tangirala (PhD student)GEoREST - Sri Kalyan Tangirala

I received my 5 years Integrated Master of Technology in Applied Geophysics from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) (IIT(ISM)) Dhanbad, India in June of 2022. I have been working on Geothermal energy since 2018 through internships at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) and remotely at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research of the Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC).
I have worked on numerical modeling of fractured CO2 based Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and presented the work online at the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) 2020+1. Later, I worked on the Hydro-Mechanical (HM) modeling of EGS with a single fracture and presented it online at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2022, and also contributed a book chapter on the same.

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