Principal Investigator
Jesse Hampton, PhD
Prof. Jesse Hampton is an Assistant Professor in the Geological Engineering program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining the Madison faculty, Dr. Hampton spent 7 years as a scientist in the Oil and Gas industry with New England Research and Halliburton. In these roles he developed advanced geomechanics, geophysics, and petrophysics research programs and contributed to more than 19 patents and published numerous journal articles and conference papers. His most recent work focused on the characterization of both elastic properties and damage and workflows for integrating multi-scale physical properties measurements.
Prof. Hampton’s teaching duties consist of a rotation of four courses including CEE/GLE 330: Soil Mechanics, CEE/GLE 530: Seepage and Slopes, CEE/GLE 401: Nondestructive Evaluation, and CEE/GLE 474: Rock Mechanics. As an educator, Prof. Hampton aims to push students in a scaffolded and safe environment to experience and overcome science and engineering—thereby striving to create a sense of scientific curiosity and confidence among students which enables them to tackle some of the biggest challenges the planet faces. Prof. Hampton uses state-of-the-art technology in the classroom such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality.
Research Scientist
Qiquan Xiong, PhD
BS, China University of Petroleum Beijing
MS, China University of Petroleum Beijing
PhD, Nanyang Technological University
Area of study: Induced seismicity, rock fracture, acoustic emission, fiber optic sensing, data science.
PhD Students
Ana Paula Villaquirán Vargas
BS, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia
MS, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia
Area of study: Poroelastic, flow, chemical, and thermal behavior of EGS reservoirs.
Erik Knippel
BS, Colorado School of Mines
Area of study: Induced seismicity, laboratory earthquakes, geophysical imaging of damage.
Ellie Johnson
BS, UW-Madison Geological Engineering and Geoscience
Area of study: AI applications in remote sensing, geological engineering, and geothermal energy.
Chao-Sheng Wu
BS, National Central University, Business Administration in Economics
MS, UW-Madison, Statistics: Data Science
Area of study: Deep learning and optimization in fiber optic sensing for infrastructure and energy.
Nathan Opperman
BS, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Geology and Geophysics
Area of study: Fiber optic sensing in infrastructure and seismology (DAS, DSS DTS).
Gowshikan Arulananthan
BS, University of Moratuwa, Civil Engineering
MS, University of Moratuwa, Civil Engineering
Area of study: Fiber optic sensing in civil engineering infrastructure.
Undergraduate Researchers
Christian Ortmann
UW-Madison, Geological Engineering
Area of study: Applications of data science in remote sensing and experimental geomechanics.
Graduated
Samantha Kleich
BS, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Geology
MS, UW-Madison, Geological Engineering
Thesis: “Mechanical and Poroelastic Properties of Lithologic Units within the San Emidio Geothermal System”
Current Position: Geological Engineer at Shannon and Wilson