Position

Professor

Contact Information

Office: ER 4032
Phone: 709-864-7541
Fax: 709-864-2589
E-mail: mslawins@mun.ca

Research Interests

I joined Memorial University in 2001 as the Petro-Canada Research Chair in Applied Seismology.

Prior to that, in 1997, I created The Geomechanics Project in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Calgary. Today, I continue to channel my research interest and activity through this international and interdisciplinary research group, composed of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research associates from physics, mathematics and computer science. In The Geomechanics Project, we strive to enhance quantitative descriptions of material properties of the Earth obtained from seismic measurements. As a result of recent enhancements in data acquisition and computational techniques, more information is contained in seismic data than can be extracted by the means of classic theories. Hence, our research aims at extending these theories to gain further information on material properties.

Broadly speaking and depending on a chosen emphasis, The Geomechanics Project’s research can be classified within mathematical physics, continuum mechanics or seismology. The intent of our work is to enhance theoretical aspects of seismology to render subtleties of empirical data accessible as physical information. In any remote-sensing discipline, such as seismology, a theory is necessary to mediate between data and physical information. In this process, a theory can either precede or follow observations. An experiment can be set up to support a theoretical prediction or a theory can be formulated to retrodict an observation.

Conceptually, our scientific approach requires a continuous, even if only implicit, enquiry into foundations, such as a logical and scientific status of entities and concepts within a theory. Pragmatically, our approach stems from adjustments, rejections and extensions of theories in the context of their internal examination.

For more information, see our website: thegeomechanicsproject.com