Dr. Laurent Demanet

Biography

Laurent Demanet is a professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he specializes in seismic imaging and wave propagation to visualize Earth's subsurface structures. He uses applied mathematics and scientific computing to explore inverse problems and aims to answer real-life questions related to seismic imaging by building models that explain and map geological structures over time. His work focuses on extracting information from indirect, incomplete, and noisy data, employing numerical algorithms and machine learning to infer surface activities and quantify uncertainties in predictions. Demanet's research has significant implications for environmental monitoring, geological carbon sequestration, hydrogen storage, water resources, and geothermal energy, as well as understanding seismic hazards induced by various activities. He joined MIT's Department of Mathematics faculty in 2009, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), and served as the Director of the Earth Resources Laboratory from 2018 to 2024. He completed his undergraduate studies in mathematical engineering and theoretical physics at Université de Louvain, Belgium, and earned his PhD in applied computational mathematics at Caltech under Emmanuel Candes, which was awarded the William P. Carey Prize in the mathematical sciences. His work has earned him several accolades, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the Air Force Young Investigator Award.

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