Laura Pyrak-Nolte
{{short description|American geophysicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Laura Pyrak-Nolte
| image = PyrakNolte.png
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption = Laura Pyrak-Nolte
| workplaces = Purdue University
University of Notre Dame
| alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Virginia Tech (MS)
SUNY Buffalo (BS)
| thesis_title = Seismic visibility of fractures
| thesis_url = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1041150970
| thesis_year = 1988
| awards = Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2022)
Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2021)
Reginald Fessenden Award (2020)
Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2020)
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2020)
| website = [http://www.physics.purdue.edu/rockphys/index.php Rock Physics Research Group]
}}
Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte is an American geophysicist who is Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University. She is the former President of the International Society of Porous Media and former President of the American Rock Mechanics Association. In 2020 Pyrak-Nolte was awarded the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Reginald Fessenden Award. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Early life and education
After completing a BS in Engineering Science at SUNY Buffalo, Pyrak-Nolte was a graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic, where she studied rift basin geometry using refraction of isotherms with John K. Costain.{{Cite thesis|title=Refraction of isotherms: applications to define rift basin geometry|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10781217|date=1983|language=English|first=Laura J|last=Pyrak-Nolte|oclc=10781217}} Pyrak-Nolte completed her doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley.{{Cite book|last=Pyrak-Nolte|first=Laura J|title=Seismic visibility of fractures|date=1988|language=English|oclc=1041150970}} There she worked on rock mechanics with Neville G. W. Cook. She was awarded various scholarships at Berkeley, including the Jane Lewis Fellowship and Thomas Dias Fellowship.{{Cite web|title=Resume|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~ljpn/resume.html|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.physics.purdue.edu}}
Research and career
Pyrak-Nolte was appointed in 1992 as an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences.{{Cite web|date=October 4, 2021|title=Department of Physics and Astronomy: Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/people/faculty/ljpn.php|access-date=2022-01-26|website=www.physics.purdue.edu}} She joined Purdue University in 1997, as an associate professor, was promoted to full professor in 2001, and was appointed as a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in 2018.{{Cite web|title=Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J {{!}} Purdue OTC|url=https://inventions.prf.org/person/14819|access-date=2020-11-22|website=inventions.prf.org}}{{Cite web|title=Faculty Honors and Awards|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/interactions/2019/news/faculty-honors.php|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.physics.purdue.edu}}
Inspired by her early work in rock mechanics, Pyrak-Nolte continued to study mechanical discontinuities in rocks. The mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of rocks is determined by these discontinuities, and the formation of fractures within such rocks dictates the transport of water and gas through them.{{Cite web|title=Rock Physics|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/rockphys/index.php|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.physics.purdue.edu}} Her research considers the mechanisms that underpin seismic processes in complex fractures. She looks to understand the evolution of fractures, how seismic waves interact with fractures and how the geometry of fractures impacts the flow of fluids. She developed a function that describes the relationship between fluid flow and elastic stiffness. By combining fracture surface properties with the outputs of this function, Pyrak-Nolte can infer the fluid flow properties in fractured rock using only seismic data.{{Cite web|title=SEG announces 2020 Honors and Awards recipients|url=https://seg.org/News-Resources/Press-Releases/SEG-announces-2020-Honors-and-Awards-recipients|access-date=2020-11-22|website=Society of Exploration Geophysicists|language=en-US}}
To better understand these fractures, Pyrak-Nolte makes use of 3D printing to create synthetic rock samples from a powder of bassanite. During the printing process the bassanite undergoes a chemical reaction with a water-based binder, forming a gypsum sample with precisely controlled internal structures. Pyrak-Nolte has shown that studying the fracture processes of synthetic rock can help to predict rocks in the real world.{{Cite web|last=Service|first=Purdue News|title=Purdue researchers 3D-print minerals in order to better predict fracture formation|url=https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2020/Q2/purdue-researchers-3d-print-minerals-in-order-to-better-predict-fracture-formation.html|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.purdue.edu|language=en}}
Academic service
Throughout her career Pyrak-Nolte has worked with the United States Department of Energy (DOE), as part of both the councils on Earth Sciences and Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences.{{Cite web|title=DOE GSGB|date=3 June 2021|url=https://science.osti.gov/bes/csgb/About}} From 2017 to 2019 Pyrak-Nolte served as President of the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA).{{Cite web|title=ARMA|url=https://www.armarocks.org/}} In 2018 Pyrak-Nolte was the first woman to deliver the annual International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering online lecture in its thirty-year history.{{Cite web|title=ISRM|url=https://www.isrm.net/gca/index.php?id=1331|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.isrm.net}} From 2019 to 2023 she is the Vice President of North America to the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM). In 2019 she was elected President of the International Society for Porous Media.{{Cite web|title=InterPore|url=https://www.interpore.org/}}
Awards and honours
- 1995 International Society of Rock Mechanics Schlumberger Lecture Award{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Schlumberger Lecture Award|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~ljpn/Schlumberger.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=International Society of Rock Mechanics}}
- 2013 Elected Fellow of the American Rock Mechanics Association{{Cite web|title=21st ISRM online lecture by Prof.Laura Pyrak-Nolte|url=https://www.isrm.net/adm/newsletter/ver_html.php?id_newsletter=150|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.isrm.net}}
- 2020 Society of Exploration Geophysicists Reginald Fessenden Award
- 2020 Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union{{Cite web|title=2020 Class of AGU Fellows Announced|url=https://eos.org/agu-news/2020-class-of-agu-fellows-announced|access-date=2020-11-22|website=Eos|date=18 November 2020 |language=en-US}}
- 2020 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS{{Cite web|title = 2020 Class of AAAS Fellows Announded|url=https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-announces-leading-scientists-elected-2020-fellows|access-date=2020-11-25|language=en-US}}
- 2021 Elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering{{cite web|url=https://www.nae.edu/?id=248499|title= National Academy of Engineering Elects 106 Members and 23 International Members|publisher=NAE|date=February 9, 2021|access-date=2021-02-10}}
- 2022 Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2023 Dean's Award of Achievement, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo
- 2024 Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award, University of Buffalo
Selected publications
- {{Cite journal|last1=Pyrak-Nolte|first1=Laura J.|last2=Myer|first2=Larry R.|last3=Cook|first3=Neville G. W.|date=1990|title=Transmission of seismic waves across single natural fractures|url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JB095iB06p08617%7C|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth|language=en|volume=95|issue=B6|pages=8617–8638|doi=10.1029/JB095iB06p08617|bibcode=1990JGR....95.8617P |issn=2156-2202|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Pyrak-Nolte|first1=Laura J.|last2=Nolte|first2=David D.|date=2016|title=Approaching a universal scaling relationship between fracture stiffness and fluid flow|journal= Nature Communications|volume=7|page=10663|doi=10.1038/ncomms10663|pmid=26868649|pmc=4754337|bibcode=2016NatCo...710663P |doi-access=free}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Pyrak-Nolte|first1=L. J.|last2=Morris|first2=J. P.|date=2000-01-01|title=Single fractures under normal stress: The relation between fracture specific stiffness and fluid flow|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1365160999001045|journal=International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences|language=en|volume=37|issue=1|pages=245–262|doi=10.1016/S1365-1609(99)00104-5|bibcode=2000IJRMM..37..245P |issn=1365-1609|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|last=Pyrack-Nolte|first=L. J.|date=1987|title=HYDRAULIC AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL FRACTURES IN LOW-PERMEABILITY ROCK|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0m8219z7|language=en}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Pyrak-Nolte|first1=Laura J.|last2=Myer|first2=Larry R.|last3=Cook|first3=Neville G. W.|date=1990|title=Anisotropy in seismic velocities and amplitudes from multiple parallel fractures|url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JB095iB07p11345|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth|language=en|volume=95|issue=B7|pages=11345–11358|doi=10.1029/JB095iB07p11345|bibcode=1990JGR....9511345P |issn=2156-2202|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Pyrak-Nolte|first1=Laura J.|last2=Braverman|first2=William|last3=Nolte|first3=Nicholas J.|last4=Wright|first4=Alan |last5=Nolte|first5=David D.|date=2020|title=Probing complex geophysical geometries with chattering dust|journal= Nature Communications|volume=11|issue=1|page=5282|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-19087-z|pmid=33077790|pmc=7572509|bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5282P |doi-access=free}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Nolte|first1=D. D.|last2=Pyrak-Nolte|first2=L. J.|date=2022|title=Monitoring fracture saturation with internal seismic sources and twin neural networks|journal= Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth|volume=127|issue=1|page=e2021JB023005|doi=10.1029/2021JB023005|bibcode=2022JGRB..12723005N |doi-access=free}}
References
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Category:American geophysicists
Category:American women geophysicists
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:University of Notre Dame faculty
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Fellows of the American Geophysical Union
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Category:American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:American women academics