Tile of Speech: Landslide Evolution in the Heterogeneous Rocks of Siwaliks Zone, Nepal

Mr. Bharat Prasad Bhandari is conducting his PhD research from Central Department of Environment Science, Tribhuvan University, Nepal since 2017. He has completed his Masters in Geology in 2013 from Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University. He is teaching assistant in Central Department of Environment Science since 2014. He has conducted several scientific researches in the field of geosciences. His research interest is “Evolution of landslide in the Tectonic Himalaya”. He is conducting his PhD research in Landslide characteristics of Siwaliks Zone of Nepal.

Tile of Speech: Provenance, and Age of the Niamey and Firgoun Sediments Presumed to be Neoproterozoic in Age (Eastern Border of West African Craton, West Niger)

Dr. Moussa Konaté obtained his BSc (Geology) from the University of Abidjan and his PhD (Geology) from the University of Burgundy (France). He is previously worked for the Ministry of Education as Teacher. His PhD research was based on Tectono-sedimentary and basin analysis. He currently lectures structural geology and petro-structural analysis at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey. His area of interest is differential equations, Structural Geology, Microtectonics, Basin analysis, Sedimentology, Petro-structural analysis, Remote Sensing, Mineral Explorations. He has published various papers in peer reviewed journals.

Title of Speech: Evaluating Impacts of Nutrient Bypass through Riparian Buffers using Simulation Modeling, Lidar Imagery, and Topographic Metrics

Dr. Tamie Veith is an Agricultural Engineer with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Dr. Veith explores the impacts of agricultural management practice selection and location on local and regional water quality. She uses simulation models such as the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the Integrated Farming Systems Model (IFSM) to spatially extend the application of detailed field- and farm-scale processes across watersheds and landscapes. This enables study of the long-term spatial and temporal impacts of land management on nutrient cycling and transport. She uses this information to assess environmental impacts of predicted climate change and create practical methods of targeting cost-effective practices into high risk areas. Recently she has been working intensively with colleagues from multiple disciplines to better understand interactions among agricultural management, aquatic water quality, landscape diversity, atmospheric deposition, climate change, and ecosystem service provisioning within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed ecosystem.

Tile of Speech: The so-called anthropogenic climate change fantasy and the reality of geological forcing of global warming and climate change

Prof. Aftab Alam Khan obtained BSc(Hons) in Geology from Dhaka University, Bangladesh and BSc(Hons) MSc PhD in Applied Geophysics from Indian School of Mines, India. He has worked for Dhaka University and Rajshahi University in Bangladesh; Sulaimania University in Iraq, and University of Malaya in Malaysia. His PhD research was based on the application of geophysics and tectonics in evaluating geodynamics of the Bengal Basin. He currently part-time lectures petroleum geology at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka and geological oceanography at BSMR Maritime University Dhaka. His areas of research include Exploration Geophysics, Environmental Geophysics, Tectonics, Marine Geology and Geohazards (Earthquake & Tsunami). He has published 65 papers in peer reviewed journals and numerous popular articles and conference papers. He has been honored with several academic awards. Publication entitled “Why would sea level rise for global warming and polar ice melt?” is one of the most downloaded paper of Geoscience Frontiers in 2018.

Title of Speech: Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar Observations of Tropical Cyclone Structure and Dynamics

Dr. Zhang obtained his BSc (Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture) from the Dalian University of Technology and his PhD (Applied Marine Physics) from the University of Miami. Since 2008, he has been with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/Hurricane Research Division, Miami, FL, USA, where he is involved in hurricane field experiments serving as lead project scientist, radar and dropsonde scientist. He has experience of flying into more than 30 hurricanes with over 100 hurricane eyewall penetrations. He is also involved in improving hurricane model physics using aircraft data. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications. His research interests include boundary layer structure and dynamics, turbulence, air–sea interaction, remote sensing, numerical modeling, and physical parameterizations.

Title of Speech: A Study on Assessment of Water Quality in Saroornagar Area of Hyderabad-City, Telangana-State, India

Dr. Durai Arulneyam obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, TN, India and Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering from Annamalai University, Chidambaram, TN, India. He obtained his PhD(Environmental Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, TN, India. His PhD research was based of pollution control technology for treatment of volatile organic compounds. He currently teaches Environmental Engineering subjects including Water Shed Management at TKR College of Engineering and Technology(Autonomous), Hyderabad, India. His areas of research interest include recovery of high potent bio fuel from Municipal Solid Wastes. He has published various papers in Scopus indexed journals.

Tile of Speech: Understanding Emerging Contaminants in the Environment: Moving from Fear to Empowerment

Title of Speech: Historical Monitoring of Shoreline Changes in Cua Dai Estuary, Central Vietnam using Multitemporal Remote Sensing Data

She is a biostratigrapher (Foraminifera and Ostracoda), in the geological department at the National Office of Mines in Tunisia. She got her MSc [earth sciences] degrees in the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis. Her PhD Thesis focused on Post-Tortonian ostracoda in Eastern Tunisia. She is mainly working on Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments. Her research focuses on Messinian, Pliocene and Quaternary with a special emphasis on, quantitative analysis, paleoenvironmental reconstruction and climatic interpretation, in Tunisia and in the Mediterranean Sea.

Tile of Speech: Characterization and Formation of Pristine Rhizoliths around Artemisia Roots in Dune Soils of Tengeri Desert, China

Biography:

Prof Qingfeng Sun gained his BSc (Geology) from the Mining University of Jiaozuo and his PhD (Geology) from the Lanzhou University, China. He previously worked several years at the Coal Mine of Zhaozhuang, Shandong Province, China as mine geologist. His PhD research was on clay minerals for the climatic and environmental changes of lakes in Tibet.  He currently lectures physical geology, gemology and geomorphology at the Northwest Normal University, China. He is doing research on rhizoliths and carbonated layers of dune in the Badain Jaran and Tengeri Desert, NW China. His research interests are dune soil, plant root, arid plant physiology, clay minerals, carbonate minerals and bio-mineralization. He has published 20 scientific articles.

Title of Speech: Increasing warming of steadily shrinking Dead Sea surface water

Biography:
Dr. Pavel Kishcha graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1979 with M.Sc. in Physics, and received Ph.D. in Geophysics from Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in 1985. Currently, he is Principal Research Associate at the Department of Geophysics of Tel-Aviv University (TAU). His research interests include investigation of heating in the uppermost layer of the Dead Sea and long-term trends in Dead Sea surface temperature based on satellite measurements; aerosol physics and aerosol numerical modeling in the atmosphere; aerosol spatial distributions and trends based on satellite and ground-based aerosol measurements. He has been producing daily operational numerical predictions of desert dust storms over the Sahara desert and adjacent regions since 2006. Dr. Kishcha is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications.

Title of Speech: Major and Trace Element Geochemistry of Emerald from Different Worldwide Deposits: The Key Role of Metasomatic Process

Biography:

Dr. Caterina De Vito obtained her BSc (Geology) and PhD (Earth Sciences) from the University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy. Her PhD research focused on the study of the Anjanabonoina granitic pegmatite from Madagascar. Her areas of interest are Carbon dioxide sequestration via mineral sequestration, granitic pegmatites and related minerals, characterization of materials used in the Cultural Heritage field.

She currently teaches Laboratory for Cultural Heritage Materials and Ore minerals and gems at the Sapienza University of Rome. She resulted to be among The Best Professors of the Faculty of Sciences (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) for the academic years 2012-2013 and 2016-2017. She is an Associate Editor of Periodico di Mineralogia. She has published various papers in peer reviewed journals.

Title of Speech: A New Way of using the Spider Diagram Method in Heavy Metal Pollution Studies for Earth Sciences

Biography:
Education: Dr. Sevda Ozel completed her undergraduate degree at Dokuz Eylul University (Engineering
Faculty, Department of Geophysical Engineering, Izmir/Turkey) in 1999, she completed her
graduate degree at Cumhuriyet University (Engineering Faculty, Department of Geophysical
Engineering, Sivas/Turkey) in 2005 and studied on Earth Physics and Applied Geophysics
(two dimension modelling in the Electromagnetic MT method and Gravity method). She
completed her postgraduate degree at Cumhuriyet University (Engineering Faculty,
Department of Environmental Engineering, Sivas/ Turkey) in 2010 and studied on
Environmental Sciences (Enviromental pollution, Geochemistry (the heavy metal pollution in
the soil and water) and Applied Geophysics (Electrical thomography and Electromagnetic
Conductivity methods)
Works: She previously worked as an Assist. between 2002-2010 and as a Dr. between 2010-
2011. Then, she continue to work , as an Assist. Dr. at Cumhuriyet University Engineering
Faculty (Department of Geophysical Engineering, in Sivas/ Turkey), from 2011 to present.

Title of Speech: Conventional Characterization of Unconventional Resource Shales

Biography:

Roger M. Slatt is Gungoll Chair Professor in Petroleum Geology/Geophysics and Director, Institute of Reservoir Characterization at University of Oklahoma (OU) (2007-present). Prior OU positions were: Director of the School of Geology/Geophysics (2000-2006) and Eberly Family Chair Professor (2006-07).  At Colorado School of Mines, he was Head, Department of Geology/Geological Engineering (1992-2000) and Director, Rocky Mountain Region Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (1995-2000).  He has held industry positions with Cities Service and ARCO Oil and Gas/International companies (1978-1992), has published  >120 articles and abstracts, is author/co-author/editor of six books on petroleum geology, reservoir geology, sequence stratigraphy, clastic depositional systems and geology of shale, and has been recipient of numerous awards from AAPG, SEG, RMAG, and SPE.