Susan E. Minkoff

Sue Minkoff

Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Affiliated Professor, Geosciences Department
Affiliated Professor, Science/Mathematics Education Department



[Sue Photo]
       Contact Information:
       University of Texas at Dallas
       Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, FO 35
       800 West Campbell Road
       Richardson, TX 75080-3021
       Office: FO 2.402B
       Phone: (972) 883-6695
       Fax: (972) 883-6622
       Email: sminkoff "at" utdallas.edu
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Ph.D. Rice University, Computational and Applied Mathematics, 1995
B.S. Duke University, Mathematics and Computer Science, 1986

Teaching, Spring 2024

Office Hours: Mondays 1-2pm or by appointment

Research Interests:

My general research area is scientific computing with primary emphasis to date on numerical modeling for geoscience and optics and photonics problems. Scientific computing balances applied mathematics, engineering, and computer science, using tools from all three subject areas to address physical problems of interest to applications scientists. My research involves numerical solution of partial differential equations, numerical analysis and numerical linear algebra, optimization, statistics for uncertainty quantification, and high performance computing.

I am always looking for highly-motivated students with whom to work, and I am generally able to support my PhD students on research assistantships for some of their time in graduate school. My students have gone on to postdocs and faculty positions in academia as well as research positions in industry. Some of the topics my current students are working on are included in the list below.

Current Projects:

Past Projects:



Selected Publications

[Please note that for portability, I have converted as many papers as possible to pdf format. Older papers may appear fuzzy when viewed on your screen. They print cleanly, however.]

60) Harikumar, R., Minkoff, S. E., and Lou, Y., "A Low-Rank Tensor Reconstruction and Denoising Method for Enhancing CNN Performance," 2024 IEEE Southwest Symposium on Image Analysis and Interpretation (SSIAI 2024), pp. 1-4, accepted 2024.

59) Dolski, T., Spiller, E., and Minkoff, S. E., "Gaussian Stochastic Process Emulation for High-Dimensional Coupled Systems," Technometrics, pp. 1-41, accepted 2024.

58) McChesney, M. D., Minkoff, S. E., and McMechan, G. A., "Investigation and Analysis of Seismic Wavefield Response from Full Hydraulic Fracturing Flow and Geomechanics Modeling," pp. 1-39, submitted 2021.

57) G. K. Stuart, S. E. Minkoff, and F. Pereira, "Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and the No-U-Turn Sampler for Bayesian Seismic Inversion and Uncertainty Quantification," in revision 2022.

56) J. Popa, Y. Lou, and S. E. Minkoff, "Low-Rank Tensor Data Reconstruction and Denoising via ADMM: Algorithm and Convergence Analysis," Journal of Scientific Computing, (2023) 97:46, pp. 1-26, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10915-023-02364-6.

55) Mozumder, A., Safin, A., Minkoff, S. E., and Zweck, J., "A Two-Way Coupled Model of Visco-Thermo-Acoustic Forcing for a Photoacoustic Trace Gas Sensor," SIAM J. Applied Math, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 1074-1097, 2023.

54) Symes, W.W., Chen, H., and Minkoff, S. E., "Solution of an Acoustic Transmission Inverse Problem by Extended Inversion," Inverse Problems, Vol. 38, No. 11, pp. 115003, 2022.

53) J. Popa, S. E. Minkoff, and Y. Lou, "Tensor-based reconstruction applied to regularized time-lapse data,"Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 231, No. 1, pp. 638-649, 2022.

52) H. Chen, W. W. Symes, and S. E. Minkoff, "Use of extended source inversion for estimating the noise level in seismic data," Proceedings of the Second International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy, (Houston, TX.), pp.887-891, 2022.

51) J. Popa, S. E. Minkoff, and Y. Lou, "An Improved Seismic Data Completion Algorithm using Low-Rank Tensor Optimization: Cost Reduction and Optimal Data Orientation," Geophysics, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. V219-V232, 2021.

50) J. Popa, S. E. Minkoff, and Y. Lou, "Improving seismic data completion via low-rank tensor optimization," Proceedings of the 90th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Houston, TX.), pp. 2774-2778, 2020.

49) W. W. Symes, H. Chen, and S. E. Minkoff, "Full waveform inversion by source extension: why it works," Proceedings of the 90th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Houston, TX.), pp. 765-769, 2020.

48) A. Safin, J. Zweck, and S. E. Minkoff, "A One-Way Coupled Model for the Vibration of Tuning Fork-Based Trace Gas Sensors Driven by a Thermoacoustic Wave," Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, Vol. 126, No. 2, pp. 29:DOI:10.1007/s00340-020-7376-8020, 2020.

47) J. Popa, S. E. Minkoff, and Y. Lou, "Improving seismic data completion and efficiency using tensors," Proceedings of the 89th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (San Antonio, TX.), pp. 4034-4038, 2019.

46) G. K. Stuart, S. E. Minkoff, and F. Pereira,, "Enhanced neural network sampling for two-stage Markov chain Monte Carlo seismic inversion," Proceedings of the 89th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (San Antonio, TX.), pp. 1670-1674, 2019.

45) H. Lee, E. T. Spiller, and S. E. Minkoff, "Dimension reduction and global sensitivity metrics using active subspaces for coupled flow and deformation modeling," Proceedings of the 89th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (San Antonio, TX.), pp. 3240-3244, 2019.

44) G. K. Stuart, S. E. Minkoff, and F. Pereira, "A Two-Stage Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method for Seismic Inversion and Uncertainty Quantification," Geophysics, Vol. 84, No. 6, pp. R1015-R1032, 2019.

43) A. Safin, S. Minkoff, and J. Zweck, "A Preconditioned Finite Element Solution of the Coupled Pressure-Temperature Equations Used to Model Trace Gas Sensors," SIAM J. Scientific Computing, Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. B1470-B1493, 2018.

42) J. Kaderli, M. D. McChesney, and S. E. Minkoff, "A Self-Adjoint Velocity-Stress Full Waveform Inversion Approach to Microseismic Source Estimation," Geophysics, Vol. 83, No. 5, pp. R413-R427, 2018.

41) C. Lai and S. E. Minkoff, Nearly Perfectly Matched Layer Boundary Conditions for Operator Upscaling of the Acoustic Wave Equation," Computational Geosciences, DOI: 10.1007/s10596-017-9616-5, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 359-372, 2017. (The final publication is available at Springer Publishing.)

40) J. Kaderli, J. Zweck, A. Safin, and S. E. Minkoff, An analytic solution to the coupled pressure-temperature equations for modeling of photoacoustic trace gas sensors," Journal of Engineering Mathematics, DOI 10.1007/s10665-016-9867-5, Vol. 103, pp. 173-193, 2017. (The definitive version is available at Springer Publishing. )

39) M. D. McChesney, S. E. Minkoff, and G. A. McMechan, "Rate and state flow and deformation simulation of microseismicity with elastic emission wavefield synthesis," Proceedings of the 86th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Dallas, TX.), pp. 5055-5059, 2016.

38) G. K. Stuart, W. Yang, S. E. Minkoff, and F. Pereira, "A two-stage Markov chain Monte Carlo method for velocity estimation and uncertainty quantification," Proceedings of the 86th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Dallas, TX.), pp. 3682-3687, 2016.

37) J. Kaderli, M. McChesney, and S. E. Minkoff, "Microseismic Event Estimation in Noisy Data via Full Waveform Inversion," Proceedings of the 85th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (New Orleans, LA), pp. 1159-1164, 2015.

36) V. Nunes and S. E. Minkoff, "Imaging via Subgrid Upscaling and Reverse Time Migration," Proceedings of the 84th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (Denver, CO.), pp. 4008-4013, 2014.

35) B. Brennan, R. C. Kirby, J. Zweck, and S. E. Minkoff, "High-performance Python-Based Simulations of Pressure and Temperature Waves in a Trace Gas Sensor," Proceedings of PyHPC 2013: Python for High Performance and Scientific Computing, 2013.

34) D. W. Vasco and S. E. Minkoff, "On the Propagation of a Disturbance in a Heterogeneous, Deformable, Porous Medium Saturated with Two Fluid Phases", Geophysics , vol. 77, no. 3, pp. L25-L44, 2012.

33) N. Petra, J. Zweck, S. E. Minkoff, A. A. Kosterev, and J. H. Doty, III, "Validation of a Model of a Resonant Optothermoacoustic Trace Gas Sensor," Proceedings of the CLEO/QELS: 2011 Laser Science to Photonic Applications Conference, #JTuI115, 2011.

32) N. Petra, J. Zweck, S. E. Minkoff, A. A. Kosterev, and J. H. Doty III, "Modeling and Design Optimization of a Resonant Optothermoacoustic Trace Gas Sensor Sensor", SIAM J. on Applied Mathematics, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 309-332, 2011.

31) N. Petra, A. A. Kosterev, J. Zweck, S. E. Minkoff, and J. H. Doty III, "Numerical and Experimental Investigation for a Resonant Optothermoacoustic Sensor", Proceedings of the CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications Conference (San Jose, CA), May 16-21, 2010.

30) T. Vdovina, S. Minkoff, and S. Griffith, "A Two-Scale Solution Algorithm for the Elastic Wave Equation", SIAM J. Scientific Computing, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 3356-3386, 2009.

29) D. W. Vasco and S. E. Minkoff, "Modeling Flow in a Pressure-Sensitive, Heterogeneous Medium", Geophysical Journal International, vol. 179, pp. 972-989:DOI:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04330.x, 2009. (Available upon request. The definitive version is available at Blackwell Publishing. )

28) N. Petra, J. Zweck, A. Kosterev, S. Minkoff, and D. Thomazy, "Theoretical Analysis of a Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy Sensor", Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, vol. 94, no. 4, pp. 673-680:DOI:10.1007/s00340-009-3379-1, 2009.

27) K. Chang, S. Minkoff, and S. Bryant, "Simplified Model for CO2 Leakage and its Attenuation due to Geological Structures", 9th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies (Washington, DC), Energy Procedia Elsevier, 2008.

26) K. Chang, S. Minkoff, and S. Bryant, "Modeling Leakage through Faults of CO2 Stored in an Aquifer", 2008 Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, (Denver, CO), SPE 115929, 2008.

25) T. Vdovina and S. Minkoff, "An a Priori Error Analysis of Operator Upscaling for the Acoustic Wave Equation", International Journal of Numerical Analysis and Modeling, vol. 5, no. 4, pp.543--569, 2008.

24) J. Zweck and S. Minkoff, "Modeling Compensation for Optical Fiber Communication Systems", SIAM Journal on Optimization, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 738-775, 2006.

23) O. Korostyshevskaya and S. Minkoff, "A Matrix Analysis of Operator-Based Upscaling for the Wave Equation", SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 586-612, 2006.

22) S. Minkoff and N. Kridler, "A Comparison of Adaptive Time Stepping Methods for Coupled Flow and Deformation Modeling", Applied Mathematical Modeling, vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 993-1009, 2006. [Also see: Science Direct ]

21) R. Dean, X. Gai, C. Stone, and S. Minkoff, "A Comparison of Techniques for Coupling Porous Flow and Geomechanics", Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Journal, vol. 11, pp. 132-140, 2006.

20) T. Vdovina, S. Minkoff, and O. Korostyshevskaya, "Operator Upscaling for the Acoustic Wave Equation", SIAM Journal on Multiscale Modeling and Simulation, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1305-1338, 2005.

19) N. Kridler and S. Minkoff, "Numerical Simulation of Coupled Fluid Flow and Mechanical Deformation Models", UMBC Review, vol. 5, pp. 98-111, 2004.

18) S. Minkoff, C. Stone, S. Bryant, and M. Peszynska, "Coupled Geomechanics and Flow Simulation for Time-Lapse Seismic Modeling", Geophysics, vol. 69, pp. 200-211, 2004.

17) S. Minkoff, C. Stone, S. Bryant, M. Peszynska, and M. Wheeler, "Coupled Fluid Flow and Geomechanical Deformation Modeling", Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, vol. 38, pp. 37-56, 2003.

16) C. Stone, S. Minkoff, S. Webb, and S. Sobolik, "Two-Way Coupling of a Nonlinear Geomechanics Code with Several Porous Flow Simulators", Proceedings of the 2nd M.I.T. Conference on Computational Fluid and Solid Mechanics, (Cambridge, MA), Elsevier, pp. 1521-1523, 2003.

15) J. Zweck, S. Minkoff, A. Lima, I. Lima, and C. Menyuk, "A Comparative Study of Feedback Controller Sensitivity to All Orders of PMD for a Fixed DGD Compensator", 2003 Optical Society of America, Optical Fiber Communications Meeting, (Atlanta, GA), pp. 590-591, 2003.

14) S. E. Minkoff, "Spatial Parallelism of a 3D Finite Difference, Velocity-Stress Elastic Wave Propagation Code", SIAM J. Scientific Computing, vol. 24, pp. 1-19, 2002.

13) S. Minkoff, C. Stone, J. Arguello, S. Bryant, J. Eaton, M. Peszynska, and M. Wheeler, "Coupled Geomechanics and Flow Simulation for Time-Lapse Seismic Modeling", Proceedings of the 69th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Houston, TX.), pp. 1667-1670, 1999.

12) S. Minkoff, C. Stone, J. Arguello, S. Bryant, J. Eaton, M. Peszynska, and M. Wheeler, "Staggered In Time Coupling of Reservoir Flow Simulation and Geomechanical Deformation: Step 1 --- One-Way Coupling", Proceedings of the 1999 Society of Petroleum Engineers' Reservoir Simulation Symposium, (Houston, TX.), pp. 329-330, 1999.

11) S. Minkoff, W. Symes, S. Bryant, J. Eaton, and M. Wheeler, "Reservoir Characterization via Time-Lapse Prestack Seismic Inversion", Proceedings of the 68th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (New Orleans, LA.), pp. 44-47, 1998.

10) C. Ober, R. Gjertsen, S. Minkoff, and D. Womble, "3D Finite-Difference Seismic Migration with Parallel Computers", in Mathematical and Numerical Aspects of Wave Propagation: SIAM, J. DeSanto, Ed., pp. 381-385, 1998.

9) T. Arbogast, S. Minkoff, and P. Keenan, "An Operator-Based Approach to Upscaling the Pressure Equation", in Computational Methods in Water Resources XII: Computational Mechanics Publications, V. Burganos, G. Karatzas, A. Payatakes, C. Brebbia, W. Gray, and G. Pinder, Eds., pp. 405-412, 1998.

8) T. Arbogast, S. Minkoff, and P. Keenan, "An Operator-Based Approach to Upscaling the Pressure Equation", Tech Report 97-30, Texas Institute for Computational and Applied Math, University of Texas, 1997.

7) S. E. Minkoff and W. W. Symes, "Full Waveform Inversion of Marine Reflection Data in the Plane-Wave Domain", Geophysics, vol. 62, pp. 540-553, 1997.

6) S. E. Minkoff, "A Computationally Feasible Approximate Resolution Matrix for Seismic Inverse Problems", Geophysical Journal International, vol. 126, pp. 345-359, 1996.

5) S. E. Minkoff and W. W. Symes, "Estimating the Energy Source and Reflectivity by Seismic Inversion", Inverse Problems, vol. 11, pp. 383-395, 1995.

4) S. E. Minkoff and W. W. Symes, "Estimating the Energy Source and Reflectivity by Seismic Inversion", in Mathematical Methods in Geophysical Imaging II: Proc. SPIE 2301, Siamak Hassanzadeh, Ed., pp. 43-56, 1994.

3) S. E. Minkoff, "Implementation of the Conjugate Gradient Algorithm in DSO", Tech Report 94-31, Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Rice University, 1994.

2) S. E. Minkoff and W. W. Symes, "Viscoelastic Modeling and Inversion of a Marine Data Set", Proceedings of the 64th Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Los Angeles, CA.), pp. 1016-1019, 1994.

1) S. E. Minkoff and W. W. Symes, "Simultaneous Determination of the Source-Time Function and Reflectivity via Inversion", Proceedings of the 63rd Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (Washington, D.C.), pp. 649-652, 1993.

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