Akram Mostafanejad

Personal Information

Name

Akram Mostafanejad

Professional Title

Senior Staff Scientist / Data Group Supervisor

Office

PIC-216

Telephone

575-835-6620

Duties

I am a geologist turned geophysicist, now turning into instrumentation engineer! I started my education in a classical and intense geology program where I participated and traveled to many interesting geological landscapes and learned from the bests in the field.

I created the first P-wave velocity tomography model of the highest volcano in Asia, the magnificent Mount Damavand. It has been a true honor to make a small contribution to the study of such a significant mythical feature, so praised in thousands years of Persian poetry and literature. I then moved on to deeper Earth, in search of Moho, and studied the velocity structure of a mid-continental seismic zone centered in the Mississippi River Valley.

While I spent most of my life under a compressional regime(!) on the Eurasian Plate, experiencing a lot of strike-slip and reverse fault earthquakes, I am now sitting on top of a magma body (Socorro) within a Rift basin. Here at PASSCAL Instrument Center, I am surrounded by thousands of seismic and geophysical sensors and instruments.

My main job responsibilities include working with seismic data, and more recently other geophysical data, including Magnetotellurics, and GPR. I make sure PASSCAL PI’s have all the tools and software, and receive all the trainings to process their data. I also make sure all our new instruments collect valid data, and that all the data is processed and archived at our Data Management Center for everyone to use. Over the years, I have also contributed some of my time to educational programs, mainly the Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience, the IRIS Summer Internship program, as well as teaching about seismic and geophysical instruments here on NMT campus.

Education

* PhD Earth Sciences , Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis - 2015
* MS Seismology, Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran - 2010
* BS Geology, University of Tehran - 2005

Experience

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GEOPHYSICAL EXPERIENCE
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o Real-Time Seismic Network Setup and Monitoring
o Seismic Sensor Testing and Evaluation
o Geophysical Sensor/Digitizer Setup, Evaluations, Troubleshooting
o Geophysical Data Formats, Processing, Archiving, Troubleshooting

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FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE
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o Valles Caldera, NM, USA 2019-2022
o Greenland, Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN) -2018
o Antarctica, McMurdo and South Pole stations -2018
o Oklahoma, USA, IRIS Community Wavefields Experiment -2016
o New Madrid Seismic Zone, Central–Eastern US, Northern Embayment Lithospheric Experiment (NELE) Flex Array project 2013-2015
o Khoda Afarin Region, North West Iran -2007
o North Dasht-e Kavir, Semnan, Iran -2007
o Damavand Volcano, Central Alborz Mountains, Iran -2006

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TEACHINGS AND WORKSHOPS
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Magnetotellurics at PASSCAL: From Deployment to Data collection June. 2022
o A half-day short course during the SAGE/GAGE Community Science Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA

How Seismometers Work Aug. 2021
o A half-day short course during the GAGE/SAGE Community Science Workshop

Geophysical Instrumentation Spring 2020, 2022
o New Mexico Tech, GEOP 589

Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE) June–July 2019 - 2022
o Leading the passive source seismology at SAGE, teaching and guiding student research groups

IRIS Student Internship Program May 2017–2019- 2022
o Passive Seismic data; formats and processing tools

PH5 Data Processing and Training workshop Dec. 2017
o Pre-AGU half-day workshop to train members of the seismological community on the PH5 software suite

EarthScope New Madrid–Central U.S. Interpretive Workshop Mar. 2011
o Assisted organizers and participants, park rangers, and museum educators during four-day workshop to learn about the EarthScope, geophysical techniques

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AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
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o Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (faculty) 2019-present
o American Geophysical Union
o Seismological Society of America