DeFord Lecture Series
DeFord Lecture Series Speaker Schedule
The DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series has been a requirement and a tradition for all graduate students since the late 1940s. Once the official venue for disseminating Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences graduate student research, the DeFord Lecture series is now the forum for lectures by distinguished visitors and members of our community. Faculty and researchers from the Jackson School have invited prestigious researchers from around the world to present a lecture in this series. This is made possible only through a series of endowments, such as those funding past Distinguished Lectures.
The list below shows all the scheduled talks this semester. If you would like to meet with any of the speakers, please contact them or their hosts directly.
DeFord Lecture Series 2025 Speaker Schedule
All talks are Thursdays from 4-5 p.m. in the Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324). Lectures will be recorded, and most past lectures are posted on the Jackson School YouTube channel.
Jan. 30
Dr. Bayani Cardenas
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
University of Texas at Austin
Ridge to Reef Volcanic Hydrogeology: Submarine groundwater in the World’s Most Biodiverse Coasts
Abstract: Water flows from land to the ocean not only through rivers and estuaries but also below-ground through coastal and submarine aquifers. While the global fresh submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is less than 1% of river discharge, it is quite relevant chemically as groundwater nutrient inputs are 25% of riverine inputs. This land-ocean connectivity is important for sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs if the groundwater delivers solutes that are either critical for or harmful to reef life. Here, we present the interesting but potentially common situation of dramatic SGD in a volcanically active area in the Philippines which has been identified as the world’s most biodiverse coastal area and whose coral reefs provide for local communities.
We studied coastal and submarine thermal springs associated with high fluxes of acidic waters and carbon dioxide, some of which are within or close to thriving coral reefs. The SGD fluxes are amongst the largest in the world and the SGD carbon dioxide fluxes overwhelm coastal carbon budgets. The presentation delivers explanations for the high SGD, discussing the mechanics and different sources and pathways of water, by bringing together multiple lines of evidence from different methods including deep diving, drones, novel sensors, geochemical tracers, thermal remote sensing, and modeling.
Feb. 6
Dr. Pete DeCelles
University of Arizona
Feb. 13
Feb. 20
Feb. 27
Dr. Jean Philippe Avouac
California Institute of Technology
March 6
Dr. Roger Creel
Columbia University
March 13
Dr. Marjorie Cantine
University of Washington
March 27
Dr. Manuele Faccenda
Università di Padova
April 3
Dr. Zhe Jia
University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
Jackson School of Geosciences
April 10
Dr. Mike Ek
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
April 17
Dr. Charlie Kerans
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
University of Texas at Austin
April 24
Dr. Karen McKinnon
University of California Los Angeles