Nima Raeisi is a PhD student in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Calgary, where he works in the Permafrost Engineering Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Jocelyn Hayley. He holds a BSc in Geology and an MSc in Hydrogeology from Kharazmi University in Tehran, Iran. His MSc thesis used machine learning to forecast groundwater levels from water quality and hydrological data. Before coming to Calgary, he used MODFLOW to model how a regional water transfer project would affect groundwater levels. He also did fieldwork as a hydrogeologist in a remote part of northern Iran. Over several seasons, he sampled and monitored water from a karst aquifer to estimate how quickly the karst was developing and to map zones of water quality.
Nima’s doctoral research examines how diverting Baker Creek, as part of the Giant Mine Remediation Project in Yellowknife, NT, could affect groundwater, surface water, and permafrost. The project is a collaboration with WSP through Mitacs. It uses geophysical surveys alongside groundwater-flow and coupled thermal-hydrological models to compare diversion options and predict how the watershed will respond as permafrost thaws. Through CREATE LEAP, Nima looks forward to learning about northern Canada and the distribution of permafrost across the region, and to meeting others working on geotechnical problems in permafrost regions.
