UMass Boston Professor to Give Pardee Symposium Keynote Address at Geological Society of America Meeting
Karen Johannesson will discuss her work on rare earth elements, in the context of using artificial intelligence in Earth system science and predictive subsurface systems.
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On Monday, October 12, UMass Boston professor Karen Johannesson will deliver a Pardee Symposium keynote address at GSA Connects, the annual Geological Society of America meeting. The keynote symposia are a highlight of this major geoscience conference, and feature speakers who have pushed boundaries in their fields.
“It was a surprise to be asked to give this keynote, but I’m excited,” said Johannson. “It’s a very broad meeting, with a lot of variety and a strong focus on Earth science, and I think the keynote talks are going to spur some interesting discussion.”
Johannesson has studied subsurface systems for decades, tracking the movement of specific elements as they move through groundwater beneath the Earth’s surface, and learning how these elements interact with the surrounding geology. Her keynote is titled “Reactive Transport of the Rare Earth Element Neodymium (Nd) Using Surface Complexation Models: Assessing the Fate and Transport of an Emerging 21st Century Environmental Contaminant.”
“I’m used to studying these elements because they played an interesting role in natural processes, but now they’re important in a lot of high-tech things,” Johannesson said. Neodymium is used to form powerful magnets, which are highly desirable for electronics. They can be found in cell phones, speakers, hard drives, and countless other devices. Unfortunately, this prevalence also means that neodymium waste is trickling back into the environment and is becoming an unusual new contaminant.
Her keynote will be part of a session titled “From Deep Earth to Digital Twins: Artificial Intelligence in Earth System Science and Predictive Subsurface Systems.” Johannesson uses some computer modeling to study the behavior of rare earth elements in complex geological systems.
“It will be very interesting to hear what people are saying in the geology community about AI,” said Johannesson. “Machine learning has been used by researchers in my field for the last ten years or so, but in the last five, it’s really accelerated.”
Johannesson has served as the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Chemical Geology since 2016, and the associate editor of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta since 2005. She became a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2010, the International Association of Geochemistry in 2014, the Geochemical Society as well as the European Association of Geochemistry in 2015, and the American Geophysical Union in 2024.
In 2015, Johannesson was awarded the Geochemical Society’s Clair C. Patterson medal, in recognition of her innovative work on the aqueous geochemistry of lanthanide series elements in the environment.