I’m a Geoscience Assessment Officer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and I am part of a team that reviews license applications, conducts geoscientific regulatory research, and carries out site inspections to ensure the safety of all types of nuclear facilities in the country. In addition to my role at the CNSC, I continue to carry out research on neotectonics as well as seismic hazards and risks in Canada, Argentina, the Philippines, and many other countries, through fieldwork, remote sensing, and numerical modelling. I am also an Adjunct Professor both at McMaster University and the University of the Philippines, and an on-call editor at Sigma One Writing Services.
I did my PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto, on active faults and earthquakes in Argentina. For my dissertation, I investigated the styles, kinematics, distribution, and rates of Quaternary deformation located east of the Central Andes in Argentina under the supervision of Prof. Lindsay Schoenbohm. My project involved 1) mapping active tectonic structures (including identifying piercing points on faults), 2) estimating quantitative long-term geomorphic slip rates of active faults using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating and geodetic techniques (e.g., DGPS topographic surveying), and 3) determining relative tectonic activity of thick- and thin-skinned faults in the Pampean flat-slab of Argentina using GIS-based morphometric techniques. The devastating 2013 Magnitude 7.2 Bohol Earthquake, which I did a thesis on for my master’s at the University of the Philippines got me started in active faults research and inspired me to pursue a PhD in neotectonics.
I currently live in Toronto, Canada with my wife, Katherine, and son, Oliver.