Devin Cowan

Devin Cowan is a computational geophysicist and PhD student at the University of British Columbia Geophysical Inversion Facility (UBC-GIF). He received a BSc in Physics and Earth Science from the University of Victoria in 2012 and an MSc in Geophysics from the University of British Columbia in 2016. From 2016 to 2024, Devin held several research positions within UBC-GIF where he developed educational materials, wrote geophysics software, and participated in a Geoscientists Without Boarders project in Myanmar (2019). In 2024, Devin decided to complete his scholastic journey by enrolling as a PhD student. Devin’s research interests are centered around improving the computational algorithms we use to infer subsurface structure from electromagnetic data. His PhD dissertation is focused on the inversion of data collected by newly developed airborne natural source electromagnetic systems, and the simulation of electromagnetic data in the presence of highly conductive sheet-like targets. This work aims to help overcome two active challenges in Canadian mining: the exploration for unconformity uranium at depth within the Athabasca basin, and the delineation of magmatic Cu-Ni-PGE deposits within the Cape Smith belt. In addition to PhD research, Devin contributes towards open-source geophysics software as part of the SimPEG project. Devin is also passionate about developing comprehensive tutorial materials to help build efficacy amongst the wider geoscience community.