Manika Prasad

Professor, Geophysics; Director, Mines CCUS Innovation Center; Co-director, Center for Rock & Fluid Multiphysics

Mines Geophysics Professor Manika PrasadDr. Manika Prasad is a professor in the Geophysics Department and a co-director of Center for Rock & Fluid Multiphysics. Her research interests are multidisciplinary research on rock, sediment and fluid properties, multiphysics, quantitative nano- and microscale characterizations, flow zone mapping, and nondestructive materials characterization. She recently led a Department of Energy project on CO2 storage and is leading the Mines’ portion of the DOE SMART initiative. She is leading the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Innovation Center. Through her teaching and research, she engages the next generation of industry professionals through her own clear understanding of rock physics and perceptive questioning of her students.

Prior to her work at Mines, Dr. Prasad worked as a fellow at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Bombay, India and as a visiting scientist for five years in the Mineral Physics Group at the University of Hawaii on seismic and microstructural properties of reservoir rocks. A major emphasis of her work at Hawaii was on acoustic microscopy of rocks and ceramic composites. Dr. Prasad worked at the Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole group from 1996 to 2004, then transitioned to the Mines’ Geophysics Department in 2004. She continued to work in this department until 2007, when she transitioned into an associated professor position with the Petroleum Engineering Department in 2007. During this time, a large part of Dr. Prasad’s work was on clays, shales, unconsolidated sands, poorly and well consolidated sandstones and chalks, and impedance microstructure in rocks and glasses. She transitioned back to the Geophysics Department in 2019.

Dr. Prasad received her B.S. in 1978 from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay, India and her M.S. in 1983 from University of Kiel, Germany in geology. She then continued on to pursue her Ph.D., and completed this in 1990 in geophysics from University of Kiel, Germany. Dr. Prasad’s Ph.D. work focused on attenuation, energy loss mechanisms and velocity dispersion in dry and fluid saturated sands

In her spare time, she enjoys worldwide travel and adventure with her husband.

 

Education

  • B.S., St. Xavier’s College
  • M.S., Ph.D., University of Kiel