Mauricio Sacchi, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

Geophysics Inverse Problems Seismology

About

Education/Positions

• BSc (1988), UNLP, Argentina
• Ph.D. (1996), UBC, Canada
• Assistant Professor, UofA, 1997-2001  
• Associate Professor, UofA, 2001-2005
• Professor, UofA, 2005-
• Chair of Physics, UofA, 2010-2015
• Chair of Physics, UofA, 2016-2021
• Editor-in-chief, Geophysics, 2015-2017
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020-

Recognitions

• 2012 CSEG Medal
• 2014 SEG Honorary Lecturer for Central and South America
• 2015 CSEG Distinguished Speaker
• 2018 CSEG Symposium in honor of M D Sacchi
• 2019 Vigil Kauffman Gold Medal Award  
• 2023 Killam Annual Professor

Research

In collaboration with graduate students, I have been researching in the area of statistical and transform methods for seismic data processing, waveform imaging and inversion in applied and global seismology. Over the past ten years, we have become recognized for the development of algorithms for multi-dimensional seismic data reconstruction, de-noising and the application of sparsity promoting methods to seismic data processing. We are currently studying problems of optimal acquisition design for simultaneous source acquisition, imaging, and full waveform inversion.

• Google Citations
• Signal Analysis and Imaging Group
• Personal Website

Teaching

• GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2019
• PHYS 699 (Advanced methods for geophysicists) Winter 2019
• GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2018
• GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2017
• PHYS 699 (Full waveform inversion) Winter 2017

• Careers in Geophysics
• Interested in undergraduate studies in GEOPHYSICS?

GEOPH 326 - Seismic Imaging of Earth's Interior

Use of reflection and refraction seismology to image the Earth's interior, including application to environmental assessment, mineral and hydrocarbon exploration, geothermal energy, and tectonics; study of current technologies used to acquire, image, and interpret 2D and 3D data sets. Real data sets and computer assignments will be used to produce seismic images of the subsurface. Prerequisite: MATH 215 or 209 or 315 or 317 or MA PH 351.

GEOPH 431 - Geophysical Inverse Theory

Quantitative methods to determine the physical properties of the Earth from indirect geophysical observations; formal treatment of geophysical inverse theory; topics include linear and nonlinear inverse problems, regularization techniques, model norms and misfit, tomography, and case histories of interpretation and analysis. Prerequisites: MATH 311. Note: credit may only be obtained for one of GEOPH 431 and GEOPH 531.

GEOPH 526 - Signal Analysis in Geophysics

Application of time-series analyses and image-processing techniques to large geophysical data sets; sampling and aliasing of signals; one- and two-dimensional Fourier transforms; the Z transformation; spectral analysis, filtering, and deconvolution; application of 1D and 2D filtering to geophysical data analysis, processing, and decomposition. Note: credit may only be obtained for one of GEOPH 426 and GEOPH 526. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

GEOPH 531 - Geophysical Inverse Theory

Quantitative methods to determine the physical properties of the Earth from indirect geophysical observations; formal treatment of geophysical inverse theory; topics include linear and nonlinear inverse problems, regularization techniques, model norms and misfit, tomography, and case histories of interpretation and analysis. Note: credit may only be obtained for one of GEOPH 431 and GEOPH 531.

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