MIT Earth Resources Laboratory

On June 11-12, 202026, MIT Earth Resources Laboratory hosted the inaugural Geo-Solutions for the Energy Transition Conference at MIT, bringing together nearly 100 researchers, students, and practitioners working at the intersection of Earth science and the energy transition. The 24 oral presentations and 28 poster presentations covered topics ranging from from critical mineral resources and subsurface energy systems to carbon management, geologic hydrogen, and the fundamental Earth processes that underpin these technologies.

Complete Program With Abstracts: https://erlweb.mit.edu/conference-2026-program/

According to ERL Director Oliver Jagoutz, “The enthusiasm, quality of discussions, and overwhelmingly positive feedback highlighted the growing need for a dedicated forum focused on the geoscience challenges and opportunities associated with building a sustainable energy future. The strongest message that emerged from the meeting was the need for clear, rigorous, and actionable science to inform decisions around the energy transition. Across topics and disciplines, participants emphasized that achieving a sustainable energy future will require optimism grounded in science—an understanding of both the opportunities and the limitations of emerging technologies, resource systems, and Earth processes.

“This spirit of scientific rigor, collaboration, and solution-oriented research resonated throughout the conference and reinforced the importance of building a community around these challenges. Given the strong turnout and positive response, we are optimistic that Geo-Solutions for the Energy Transition will become a regular conference series and a focal point for this growing field. A big thank you to all speakers, attendees, organizers, students, and sponsors who helped make the inaugural meeting a success. We look forward to continuing the conversation and building this community in the years ahead.”

If you’d like to be informed of future events like this, contact [email protected] to be added to the ERL e-mail list, or check the events page of or website: https://erlweb.mit.edu/upcomingevents/

Congratulations to ERL alum Hongyu Sun, who has been selected to receive the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ J. Clarence Karcher Award at the IMAGE conference in August. The award recognizes “significant contributions to the science and technology of exploration geophysics by a young geophysicist of outstanding abilities.” Dr. Sun, who is now an Assistant Professor at UTEP - The University of Texas at El Paso, earned her PhD at MIT in 2022 working with professor and former ERL director Laurent Demanet in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the MIT Department of Mathematics.

Congratulations to Dr. Lubna Albarghouty! On April 21, 2026, Lubna successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Machine Learning-Primed Inference for Multiple-Event Location and Phase Association in Global Seismic Monitoring”. Her advisor was Dr. Sai Ravela of ERL and MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

Congratulations to Dr. Jae Deok Kim! On April 17, 2026, Jae successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Physics-Based and Data-Driven Inversion of Magnetotelluric Data for Subsurface Imaging”. His advisors were Dr. Sai Ravela of ERL / MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and Dr. Rob Evans of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).