Several members of the New Mexico Tech community have interests in the mechanics of geologic processes, including mechanical problems in structural geology. Students can draw upon courses and faculty expertise in Geology, Geophysics, Mineral Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, and Engineering Mechanics in order to investigate mechanical problems in structural geology.
Cathy Aimone-Martin, a Professor of Mineral Engineering, teaches several courses in Soil Mechanics.
Bill Haneberg is interested in field and modeling studies of physical processes in geology. Recent and ongoing research projects include groundwater flow through faulted aquifer systems, aquifer system compaction and land subsidence, mechanics of drape folding, modeling the effects of compositional variation on frictional heat dissipation in rocks adjacent to faults, debris flow mobilization, and the hydrology of landslides. Bill has co-taught Brittle Deformation (Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting) and Mechanics of Geologic Processes. He is currently writing a textbook titled Mechanics of Earth Surface Processes.
Kalman Oravecz, Professor Emeritus of Mineral Engineering, has taught Rock Mechanics and Rock Slope Stability, and maintains a rock mechanics lab on campus.
Marshall Reiter, an Adjunct Professor of Geophysics and Senior Geophysicist with the New Mexico Bureau of Mines, conducts research on geothermics and tectonophysics, especially the mechanics of buoyant fault blocks in extensional settings and the mechanics of slip along both high and low angle normal faults.
Larry Teufel, a Professor in the Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, is interested in the characterization of naturally fractured petroleum reservoirs, reservoir compaction and subsidence, in situ stress measurements, and coupled deformation and fluid flow (poroelasticity). He offers a course in Continuum Mechanics.