Research

Peter Aaen named Dean of Energy and Materials Programs 3/5/2026

Peter Aaen named Dean of Energy and Materials Programs

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Peter Aaen has been named Dean of Energy and Materials Programs at Colorado School of Mines. Aaen joined Mines in 2019 to lead the Electrical Engineering Department. He began the appointment as Energy and Materials dean Dec. 1 after serving as interim dean since May.  March 5, 2026.

Conflict monitoring with VIIRS Nightfire: the war in Ukraine 3/2/2026

Conflict monitoring with VIIRS Nightfire: the war in Ukraine

Merlijn I. Dingemanse, Earth Observation Group Researcher Associate Mikhail Zhizhin and Daniele Cerra write about how leveraging the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite’s Nightfire product, we extract signals of conflict across Ukraine, tracking the status of heavy industry, delineating the frontline, and detecting urban combat.   March 2, 2026. 

Geotechnical, economic, social, and environmental dimensions of direct lithium extraction (DLE) from Smackover brines in Arkansas 2/20/2026

Geotechnical, economic, social, and environmental dimensions of direct lithium extraction (DLE) from Smackover brines in Arkansas

Aaron Malone, Alannah Brett, Elisheba Spiller, Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Linda Battalora and Elizabeth Holley, Frances Fitzgerald, Caroline Ruppert, Andres Reyes and Julia Jann write about how the global scramble for critical minerals and the US push to increase domestic production have generated interest around the potential for direct lithium extraction from oilfield brines (OB-DLE) in Arkansas.  February 20, 2026.

Vertically integrated program brings together researchers across fields, experience levels 2/2/2026

Vertically integrated program brings together researchers across fields, experience levels

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Eric Toberer contributed to this article about how Mines undergraduate students involved in VIPER, Vertically Integrated Projects for Experiential Research, the experience is markedly different from other research opportunities. Most of those opportunities are paid research fellowships, where students work for a stipend or as part of work-study for a semester or one academic year. VIPER instead awards academic credit and projects are longer-term, with students able to engage in them over several years.   February 2, 2026.

The widening gap between copper supply and demand will have an impact on economic development and energy futures 2/2/2026

The widening gap between copper supply and demand will have an impact on economic development and energy futures

Adam C. Simon, Lawrence M. Cathles, Dan Wood, and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about how copper is essential for modern economies including: energy systems, data centers, defense applications, space cooling and heating, heavy industry, smart agriculture, transportation, and consumer goods.  They show that copper is unlikely to be mined fast enough to meet all these needs in the short to medium term.  February 2, 2026.

Accelerated CO Separation and Adsorption Kinetics on Carbon Using Resonant Vibrations: A Process Intensification Strategy 1/28/2026

Accelerated CO Separation and Adsorption Kinetics on Carbon Using Resonant Vibrations: A Process Intensification Strategy

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Amirhosein Riahi and Richard LaDouceur write about how carbonaceous adsorbents, such as biochar, have attracted considerable interest for CO2 sequestration because of their cost-effective production and environmental friendliness. However, their slow adsorption kinetics – attributable to limited surface area and diffusional limitations – have hindered widespread adoption.  In this study, we introduced a green processing strategy that leverages resonant vibrations to improve the rate of CO2 adsorption on hemp biochar.  January 28, 2026.

Strategy at the source: A scenario-based network analysis of defense critical minerals (DCMs) in U.S. national security doctrine 1/28/2026

Strategy at the source: A scenario-based network analysis of defense critical minerals (DCMs) in U.S. national security doctrine

Macdonald Amoah, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, and Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how U.S. military power depends on platforms and alliances, but its resilience depends on the availability of defense critical minerals (DCMs).  This article develops a scenario-based analytical framework that links cycles of U.S. grand strategy (doctrines of engagement vs. retrenchment) with levels of geopolitical tension (peace vs. conflict).  January 28, 2026.

VIIRS Nightfire Super-Resolution Method for Multiyear Cataloging of Natural Gas Flaring Sites: 2012-2025 1/16/2026

VIIRS Nightfire Super-Resolution Method for Multiyear Cataloging of Natural Gas Flaring Sites: 2012-2025

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Mikhail Zhizhin, Christopher D. Elvidge, Tilottama Ghosh, Gregory Gleason, and Director Morgan Bazilian present a new method for mapping global gas flaring using a multiyear spatio-temporal database of VIIRS Nightfire (VNF) nighttime infrared detections from the Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The method is designed to resolve closely spaced industrial combustion sources and to produce a stable, physically meaningful flare catalog suitable for long-term monitoring and emissions analysis.   January 16, 2026.

Commercializing Fusion Energy 12/3/2025

Commercializing Fusion Energy

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall cowrote this book about how fusion energy has now emerged as one of the most disruptive technology opportunities attracting the attention of risk-tolerant investors and large amounts of private capital. This book considers the emergence of nuclear fusion technology as a commercial proposition grounded in technological opportunities and also in high-technology business development.   December 3, 2025.

Scaling carbon capture and storage (CCS) to gigaton capacity: A multi-dimensional and critical review 12/2/2025

Scaling carbon capture and storage (CCS) to gigaton capacity: A multi-dimensional and critical review

Benjamin Mitterrutzner, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Brage Rugstad Knudsen, Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian, Jinsoo Kim, Simon Roussanaly, Asgeir Tomasgard, and Fellow Steven Griffiths provide a comprehensive review of CCS technologies, from capture to storage, across key sectors, and maps the evolution of global CCS deployment; looking at cost-effective mitigation and policy, regulatory and market actions needed. December 2, 2025.

Review of Long-Term Patterns in Nighttime VIIRS Detections of Lights, Boats and Offshore Lights, Fires, and Flares in S.E. Asia: 2012-2023 11/23/2025

Review of Long-Term Patterns in Nighttime VIIRS Detections of Lights, Boats and Offshore Lights, Fires, and Flares in S.E. Asia: 2012-2023

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Director Christopher Elvidge, Research Associates Tillotama Ghosh and Mikhail Zhizhin, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about the comprehensive multi-year composite research completed by the group for South East Asia using VNL, VBD, and VNF products.  November 23, 2025.

Chile’s lithium exceptionalism: Strategic legacies and the contested future of the Salar de Maricunga 11/6/2025

Chile’s lithium exceptionalism: Strategic legacies and the contested future of the Salar de Maricunga

Vlado Vivoda, Natalie Ralph, Asmaa Khadim, Nigel Wight, and Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how Chile’s approach, governed under an exceptional legal regime, created during the Cold War to safeguard potential nuclear applications, represents a case of lithium exceptionalism: a uniquely Chilean configuration shaped by historical legal restrictions, renewed state ambition, and intensifying global competition.  November 6, 2025.

IceSpec: An ice-core hyperspectral imaging framework 10/29/2025

IceSpec: An ice-core hyperspectral imaging framework

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Senior Research Associate Mikhail Zhizhin and research associates write about how IceSpec, a novel hyperspectral line-scan imaging system for ice cores, nondestructively captures light-scattering features via dark-field illumination. Its calibrated visible and near-infrared spectral data enhance analysis and archiving, advancing research on stratigraphic impurities, ice dynamics and paleoclimate.  October 29, 2025.

Trends and 2025 insights on the rise of electric vehicles in the USA 10/9/2025

Trends and 2025 insights on the rise of electric vehicles in the USA

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and other researchers write about how plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are reshaping the transportation energy landscape, providing a practical alternative to petroleum fuels for a growing number of applications.   October 9, 2025.

Not-So-Quick and Not-So-Dirty Solutions to Decarbonize Off-Road Vehicles 10/7/2025

Not-So-Quick and Not-So-Dirty Solutions to Decarbonize Off- Road Vehicles

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Aashutosh N. Mistry, Polina Brodsky, Andrea J. Brickey, Adam Duran, Eve Mozur, Rajavasanth Rajasegar, Gregory Jackson, Steven C. Decaluwe, Robert J. Kee, Ryan O’Hayre, Alexandra Newman, Robert Braun, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Neal P. Sullivan write about how transportation decarbonization efforts through electric vehicles have sped up in recent years, we still face barriers to their adoption.  October 7, 2025.

Review of sustainability challenges for lithium production: The case of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile in the Lithium Triangle 10/1/2025

Review of sustainability challenges for lithium production: The case of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile in the Lithium Triangle

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Raphael Deberdt and Nicole Smith, Maria Sol Saavedra, and Director Morgan Bazilian examine how the sustainability challenges facing lithium extraction and production in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. These three countries form the “Lithium Triangle” and hold approximately 50 % of the world’s known lithium resources.  October 1, 2025.

An Improved Calibration for Satellite Estimation of Flared Gas Volumes from VIIRS Nighttime Data 9/8/2025

An Improved Calibration for Satellite Estimation of Flared Gas Volumes from VIIRS Nighttime Data

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Mikhail Zhizhin, Christopher D. Elvidge, Tamara Sparks, Tilottama Ghosh, Morgan Bazilian and Feng-Chi Hsu write about how the VIIRS Nightfire (VNF) data product is particularly useful for monitoring of global natural gas flaring and estimation of flared gas volumes. In this paper we report on the development of an empirical calibration for estimating flared gas volumes based on VIIRS observations of flares running at low, medium, and high flared gas volumes. Tests were run with both single and double flares, with and without atmospheric correction.  September 8, 2025.

Critical minerals at Mines: Interdisciplinary team of researchers leading collaborations to increase domestic mineral mining, secure supply chains 9/2/2025

Critical minerals at Mines: Interdisciplinary team of researchers leading collaborations to increase domestic mineral mining, secure supply chains

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley and Nicole Smith are featured in this article about how with expertise in mining, policy, economics and community engagement, Mines is helping chart path to strengthened national resilience, resource independence.  September 2, 2025.

By-product recovery from US metal mines could reduce import reliance for critical minerals 8/21/2025

By-product recovery from US metal mines could reduce import reliance for critical minerals

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley, Dorit Hammerling, Rod Eggert, Erik Spiller, Priscilla Nelson, and Karlie Hadden write about how the US has sufficient geological endowment in active metal mines to reduce the nation’s dependence on critical mineral imports.  This study uses a statistical evaluation of new geochemical datasets to quantify the critical minerals that are mined annually in US ores but go unrecovered.  August 21, 2025.

Critical minerals lists for low-carbon transitions: Reviewing their structure, objectives, and limitations 7/30/2025

Critical minerals lists for low-carbon transitions: Reviewing their structure, objectives, and limitations

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Raphael Deberdt and Nicole Smith, student researcher Jordy Calderon, and Scott McCall write about how critical minerals lists have flourished in the past decade, in particular linked to the importance of critical minerals for low-carbon transitions. We identified 27 critical minerals or materials lists across 15 countries and the European Union (EU).  July 30, 2025.

Colorado School of Mines’ Earth Observation Group Releases Key Data for 2025 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report 7/22/2025

Colorado School of Mines’ Earth Observation Group Releases Key Data for 2025 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report

The Payne Institute contributed satellite data to the World Bank 2025 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report.  The research is based on satellite data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), underscores persistent challenges in reducing flaring intensity, which has remained largely unchanged over the past 15 years.  July 22, 2025.

Graphite and manganese mining in the U.S.: Proposed projects and federal battery mineral policies 7/17/2025

Graphite and manganese mining in the U.S.: Proposed projects and federal battery mineral policies

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley, Nicole Smith, and Raphael Deberdt, Student Researchers Lukas Fahle, Grayce Gibbs, and Jordy Calderon, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how demand is increasing for the minerals used in energy transmission and storage, such as graphite and manganese in batteries.  This paper reviews the geological resources and development status of graphite and manganese projects in the U.S. and examines the impacts of policies on U.S. mining and processing of these two commodities.  July 17, 2025.

Nickel and cobalt from U.S. mines and refineries: Assessment of five dimensions of mineral availability 7/16/2025

Nickel and cobalt from U.S. mines and refineries: Assessment of five dimensions of mineral availability

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley, Nicole Smith, Rod Eggert, and Erik Spiller, Research Associate Aaron Malone, Student Researchers Lukas Fahle and Jordy Calderon, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how domestic mining and refining of critical minerals such as nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co), and the active and proposed Ni and Co mining and refining projects in the U.S. to evaluate five dimensions of mineral availability.  July 16, 2025. 

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300 7/9/2025

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah writes about how Africa stands at a pivotal juncture in its energy trajectory, where bold aspirations for universal electrification by 2030 confront entrenched structural and institutional barriers.  In response to this pressing challenge, twelve African governments have aligned themselves with the World Bank’s Mission 300 Energy Compacts, committing to universal access through a suite of reform-oriented and infrastructure-driven strategies.  July 9, 2025.

Tokenizing the Environmental Attributes of Liquefied Natural Gas 7/9/2025

Tokenizing the Environmental Attributes of Liquefied Natural Gas

Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler and student researcher Mark McCurdy write about how efforts to combat emissions of global warming/greenhouse gases are spawning the development of systems to track, record and share the carbon footprint and other environmental attributes of various operations. Methane emissions from the natural gas industry.  July 9, 2025.  

The Importance of Military Steel Production in Large-Scale Conflicts 7/7/2025

The Importance of Military Steel Production in Large-Scale Conflicts

Gregory Wischer and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about the importance a consistent steel supply chain for US national defense.  A hard, strong alloy of iron, carbon, and other elements, it is used in platforms like attack submarines, long-range bombers, mobile missile launchers, as well as munitions like torpedoes, standoff missiles, and long-range missiles and rockets.  July 7, 2025.

U.S. industry practices and attitudes towards reprocessing mine tailings for metal recovery 6/27/2025

U.S. industry practices and attitudes towards reprocessing mine tailings for metal recovery

Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone, Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley, Priscilla Nelson, and Erik Spiller, and Lukas Fahle and Nina Zaronikola write about how recovery of metals from mine tailings has the potential to reduce environmental liabilities and contribute to circular economy, but implementation is limited. This study uses three methods to examine the state of practice and identify knowledge gaps around tailings reprocessing.  June 27, 2025.  

Lithium production in the United States: Socio-technical review of sites, environmental impacts, and social acceptance 6/27/2025

Lithium production in the United States: Socio-technical review of sites, environmental impacts, and social acceptance

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Elizabeth Holley, Raphael Deberdt, and Nicole Smith, and Alannah C. Brett, and Lukas Fahle write about how the low-carbon transition has motivated a global exploration and development surge for lithium (Li).  Currently, the US has only one Li mine and commercial refinery, and one Li-byproduct producer in 2024.  June 27, 2025.

Payne Institute Critical Minerals Special Report – June 2025 6/24/2025

Payne Institute Critical Minerals Special Report

The Payne Institute for Public Policy has published a Critical Minerals Special Report to coincide with our first London Critical Minerals Symposium held on June 23, 2025.  Our insightful sessions hosted representatives from government, the mining industry, academia, finance, advocacy and philanthropy to consider optimizing the opportunities for socioeconomic development in mineral resource-rich countries.  The attached compendium features work from just a few of our panelists.  June 24, 2025.  

A Study of Terminal Decline Rates of Oil & Gas Wells 6/9/2025

A Study of Terminal Decline Rates of Oil & Gas Wells

Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Program Director Brad Handler, Student Researchers Vandan Bhalala and Liam O’Byrne, and Faculty Fellow Jim Crompton write about how in the United States alone, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there may be nearly 4 million inadequately decommissioned oil and gas wells. They also collectively are a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, a driving force behind global warming.  A climate mitigation business model is emerging in which a project developer undertakes to properly plug a leaking abandoned wellbore to stop its fugitive emissions.  June 9, 2025.  

Powering Up: Electrical Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines grows as demand for jobs goes up 4/28/2025

Powering Up: Electrical Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines grows as demand for jobs goes up

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Peter Aaen contributes to this article about how the Mines Electrical Engineering Department has a new online master’s degree, increased enrollment, and innovative research, all contributing to the positive future for the field.  April 28, 2025.

Astronaut nuclear safety: A concept for managing crew risks when using space nuclear power systems 4/23/2025

Astronaut nuclear safety: A concept for managing crew risks when using space nuclear power systems

Payne Institute Fellow Alexander Q. Gilbert writes about how space nuclear power systems can provide transformational, enabling capabilities for human space exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.  However, widespread use of space nuclear power systems in direct support of astronaut operations calls for a concerted and holistic focus on the impacts on crew safety.   April 23, 2025.

Jessica M. Smith named 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow 4/16/2025

Jessica M. Smith named 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jessica M. Smith, University Professor of Anthropology in the Engineering, Design & Society Department at Colorado School of Mines, has been named a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Smith is one of 26 scholars across the United States – and the first Mines professor ever – selected for the prestigious honor. April 16, 2025. 

Fossil fuel subsidy reforms have become more fragile 3/26/2025

Fossil fuel subsidy reforms have become more fragile

Payne Institute Fellow Paasha Mahdavi, Michael L. Ross, and Evelyn Simoni write about how since the mid-2010s, many governments have pledged to reduce their subsidies for fossil fuels. Yet, it is unclear whether these reforms have been implemented, with prior studies showing conflicting results. March 26, 2025.

Intercomparison of Three Continuous Monitoring Systems on Operating Oil and Gas Sites 3/18/2025

Intercomparison of Three Continuous Monitoring Systems on Operating Oil and Gas Sites

Colorado School of Mines Student Researchers William S. Daniels, Spencer G. Kidd, Shuting Lydia Yang, Shannon Stokes, Payne Institute Fellow Arvind P. Ravikumar, and Faculty Fellow Dorit M. Hammerling compare continuous monitoring systems (CMS) from three different vendors on six operating oil and gas sites in the Appalachian Basin using several months of data. March 18, 2025.

Influence of climate change and accidents on perception differs among energy technologies 3/7/2025

Influence of climate change and accidents on perception differs among energy technologies

Guillaume F. L’Her, Nickolas A. Duncan, Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, and Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Mark R. Deinert write about how public perception of energy technologies is crucial for their acceptance and development, particularly in the context of climate change and postaccident scenarios.  March 7, 2025.

The Future of Carbon Dioxide Removal 2/17/2025

The Future of Carbon Dioxide Removal

Ben Tourkin, Nomadic Venture Partners (NVP), writes about the role that removal of atmospheric carbon will play in a global net-zero roadmap. From high-level market dynamics to comparisons of specific technologies and investment pathways, this exploration reflects a broad yet practical approach to understanding the opportunities and hurdles in this field.  February 17, 2025.  

Advancing Co2 Separation and Capture in Post-Combustion Scenarios Using Resonant Vibration Techniques 2/24/2025

Advancing Co2 Separation and Capture in Post-Combustion Scenarios Using Resonant Vibration Techniques

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Amirhosein Riahi, Julie Muretta, and Richard LaDouceur write about how carbon dioxide (CO2) requires specialized capture methods for effective mitigation. Biochar has garnered significant interest as a versatile, porous solid adsorbent due to its cost-effective production, thermal, chemical, and mechanical stability, and minimal environmental impact. However, its small surface area and diffusional issues result in slow CO2 adsorption kinetics and limited capacity, hindering widespread adoption.  February 14, 2025.

Critical Minerals and the Future of the U.S. Economy 2/10/2025

Critical Minerals and the Future of the U.S. Economy

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Communications Associate Gregory Wischer contributed to this CSIS Report about safeguarding the minerals supply chains for advanced technologies in strategic industries is an economic and national security imperative.  The report shows that resilient mineral chains have never been more important for U.S. security than at this critical juncture.   February 10, 2025.

A comprehensive global mapping of offshore lighting 2/8/2025

A comprehensive global mapping of offshore lighting

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Director Christopher D. Elvidge, Research Associates Tilottama Ghosh, Namrata Chatterjee, and Mikhail Zhizhin, Paul C. Sutton, and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian present the first comprehensive multiyear global mapping of offshore lighting structures derived from low-light imaging satellite observations collected at night. The sensor is the day–night band (DNB) flown as part of the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The product merges two operational nighttime light products: VIIRS boat detection (VBD) data and VIIRS cloud-free nighttime light (VNL) data. The two products are spatially complementary, making it possible to fill gaps through a merger.  February 8, 2025.

Electrification of the joint force: Challenges and opportunities for competition in the Pacific and Arctic theaters 1/17/2025

Electrification of the joint force: Challenges and opportunities for competition in the Pacific and Arctic theaters

Joshua D. Simulcik, Fabian E. Villalobos, and Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how the US Department of Defense will have to find ways to expand the portfolio of its energy sources, continue to refine its supply chains and delivery mechanisms for energy services, improve efficiency across systems, and maintain a focus on costs to increase growing demand for energy services on the battlefield.  January 17, 2025.

Critical Minerals Analytical Tools Launched by Payne Institute for Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines 12/9/2024

Critical Minerals Analytical Tools Launched by Payne Institute for Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines

The Payne Institute for Public Policy created a series of user-friendly critical minerals analytical tools.  The tools, being developed in cooperation with the Mineral and Energy Economics program at Mines, offer detailed information about the availability, cost, and demand for minerals integral to global efforts to transition to low carbon energy and transport systems.  December 9, 2024.

Mines researchers prioritize responsibility with carbon capture and storage 12/3/2024

Mines researchers prioritize responsibility with carbon capture and storage

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jessica Smith is part of a team of Mines researchers are working in partnership with local stakeholders to curb these emissions in southern Colorado—and provide a model for similar efforts across the nation as states aim to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals and work toward a net-zero carbon future.  December 3, 2024.

Geophysics and the Energy Transition

GEOPHYSICS AND THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Carol Dahl coauthored portions of this book on geophysical monitoring as a means to carbon capture and storage and the energy transition.  November 24, 2024.

 

 

Mines researchers looking for answers to climate challenges below the surface 11/21/2024

Mines researchers looking for answers to climate challenges below the surface

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Ryan Venturelli, Matthew Siegfried and Brandon Dugan are featured in this article about how cross-collaboration is key to addressing climate science challenges.  The researchers are on the leading edge of advancing our understanding of and response to critical environmental issues.  November 21, 2024.

 

The Payne Institute experts are regional, national, and international leaders in applied research in natural resources, energy, and the environment. Our team is involved in a wide variety of research projects in these fields, and are committed to sharing these results with academic and professional audiences.

 

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, viewpoints, or official policies of the Payne Institute or Colorado School of Mines.