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Introduction to Geostatistics

At the University of Parma – June 3-7, 2024 – Lecturer prof. J. Jaime Gómez-Hernández

This short course aims at introducing the basic and theoretical concepts of Geostatistics, its main applications in estimation processes, uncertainty modelling and stochastic simulations.

The class combines theory and practice, with the hands-on analysis of a case study. The attendees will be introduced to the open-source geostatistical package SGeMS (Stanford geostatistical modelling software) that will be used during the practical exercises.

The course is organized in remote video-lessons that the attendant can follow by alone in an accessibility period of three days.  Every two/three lessons, practice sessions and tutoring held in presence at the Campus of the Parma University by the teacher will be carried out. The course is scheduled to run from 3 to 7 June 2024 and the in presence sessions will be held on 4, 6, 7 June 2024.

Who is for?

Mainly for PhD students in engineering and earth sciences. The contents are also of interest to postdocs and researchers active in the field of engineering, environmental sciences and water resources.

The PhD Course on Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Parma (Italy) will recognize 5 ECTS to those attending the classes and passing a final exam.

Geostatistics

Geostatistics is a branch of statistics aimed at studying and describing stochastic processes, associated with spatial, temporal or spatiotemporal variability that show autocorrelation. The origin of geostatistics can be ascribed to the practical need of describing spatial patterns and interpolating values on those locations where sample where not available in the mining industry. The discipline has rapidly evolved beyond interpolation into stochastic simulation and uncertainty quantification. Nowadays, applications of geostatistics are common in many engineering, earth and environmental science and health areas such as: mining industry, topographic surveys, environmental science, mapping of soil and groundwater pollution, hydrology, ecology, agriculture, meteorology, public health, epidemiology, etc.

Course detailed Program

The course is organized in remote video-lessons that the attendant can follow by alone in an accessibility period of three days.  Every two/three lessons, practice sessions and tutoring held in presence at the Campus of the Parma University by the teacher will be carried out.   

The schedule will be as follows (detailed Syllabus here ):

Monday 3 June – morningSESSION 1 VIRTUAL. Introduction. Recall of univariate and bivariate statistics. The need of spatial statistics. 4 hours.
Monday 3 June – afternoonSESSION 2 VIRTUAL. Characterization of spatial continuity. The variogram. Variogram models. 4 hours.
Tuesday 4 June – in-person at classroom D, Podere La Grande  -10:00-12:00SESSION 3 IN-PERSON. Q&A on Session 1. Introduction to SGeMS. Hands-on exercise on basic statistics calculation and variogram modeling. 2 hours.
Tuesday 4 June – afternoonSESSION 4 VIRTUAL. Modeling spatial continuity. The random function model. Stationarity and ergodicity. The multiGaussian random function model. 2 hours. Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday 5 June – morning and afternoonSESSION 5 VIRTUAL. Estimation. Ordinary kriging. Other flavors of kriging. 6 hours.
Thursday 6 June – in-person at classroom D, Podere La Grande  -10:00-13:00SESSION 6 IN-PERSON. Q&A on Sessions 3 and 4. Hands-on estimation exercise. 3 hours.
Thursday 6 June – afternoonSESSION 7 VIRTUAL. Modeling local uncertainty. MultiGaussian kriging. Indicator kriging. Modeling global uncertainty. 3 hours.

SESSION 8 VIRTUAL. Stochastic simulation. Sampling from a random function model. Sequential simulation. 3 hours.
Friday 7 June – in-person at classroom D, Podere La Grande  -10:00-13:00SESSION 9 IN-PERSON. Q&A on Sessions 6 and 7. Hands-on simulation exercise. 3 hours.
Detailed Program

Venue

The lessons in presence will take place at the Campus of the University of Parma, in the classroom D, Podere La Grande on Tuesday 4 June (10:00-12:00), Thursday 6 June (10:00-13:00), Friday 7 June (10:00-13:00), 2024. Address: Parco Area delle Scienze, 43124, Parma, PR

Contact person

Prof. Maria Giovanna Tanda, Department of Architecture and Engineering, University of Parma (Italy),  mariagiovanna.tanda@unipr.it .

Registration

The number of participants is limited to 30. Admission is granted in priority to doctoral students of the University of Parma and to those who will attend lectures in person. There is no registration fee for the course, but participants must cover their own travel and subsistence costs. Participants have to register before April 21st, 2024 at the following link: https://forms.gle/F4DPsQZ5C9jee1TVA    

Registrants will receive news on admission to the course by April 28th, 2024.

THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS POSPONED TO MAY 15, 2024. News on admission to May 20, 2024.

Attendee requirements

The course will be held in English. Course attendees are required to have available their own laptop for the practical exercises.

Course Lecturer

Prof. J. Jaime Gómez-Hernández

Professor J. Jaime Gómez-Hernández received his Civil Engineering Degree from Universitat Politècnica de València on 1983, then he continued his studies at Stanford University where he got an MS. Sc. in Applied Hydrogeology on 1988 and a Ph. D. in Geostatistics on 1991. Upon his return to Spain, he joined the faculty of the School of Civil Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de València where he became full professor of Hydrogeology in 2000. Currently, he is the head of the Hydrogeology Group of the Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering.

His research has focused in the fields of geostatistics, upscaling, stochastic simulation, inverse modeling, nuclear waste disposal, uncertainty quantification and stochastic hydrogeology.

His list of publications can be consulted in Google Scholar (user=PBHrWdMAAAAJ), Orcid (0000-0002-0720-2196) or Scopus (7005555097).

h-index: 46 (according to Google Scholar, 5 february 2024)

Number of citations: 8372 (according to Google Scholar, 5 february 2024)

He has served as associate editor for the Journal of Hydrology, Hydrogeology Journal, Mathematical Geology and Spatial Statistics, currently belongs to the Editorial Board of Mathematical Geosciences, Advances in Water Resources, and Springer Nature Applied Sciences.

He has served as Secretary of the Hydrology Section of the European Geophysical Society; he has been Vicerrector of the Universitat Politècnica de València in two occasions and he has been Director General for Scientific and Technological Infrastructures for the Valencian Regional Government. Currently, he is President of the Geostatistics for Environmental Applications International Association (geoENVia). He has organized the 1988 and 2012 Conference on Geostatistcs for Environmental Applications, the 2010 IAHR Groundwater Symposium, the 2016 10th International Congress on Geostatistics, the 2019 Interpore Annual Congress, the 2019 AIH Annual Congress, and the 2019 AGU Chapman Conference on Aquifer sustainability. He received the Spanish Ministry of Education award to best civil engineer graduate of the class of 1983; he has been recognized as Excellent Reviewer, by the Editorial Boards of Water Resources Research and Advances in Water Resources, and as a Sentinel of Science in Environmental Science by Publons. He received the Centennial Prize to Teaching Assistants by Stanford University, and the Prize for Research in Waste Disposal by the Valencian Government. In 2021 he was the Groundwater prize winner of the prestigious award Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water . In 2022 he is the winner of the Pioneer in Groundwater Award of the American Society of Civil Engineer (ASCE).