Holly Brunkal, PhD

Holly Brunkal is an instructor at Western Colorado University in Geology and the Engineering Partnership programs. Holly earned her PhD from Colorado School of Mines in Geological Engineering, and during her time there she enrolled in several Geothermal energy classes with mentor, Dr. Masami Nakagawa. Dr. Nakagawa introduced Holly to Teal Stetson-Lee and the Rico Geothermal Coalition, in the spring of 2022, and she is excited to continue the collaborations that he started.

Holly has been faculty at Western for nearly two decades and has taught in a variety of roles within the Rady School, NES department, and the honors and the elementary education programs. Dr. Brunkal also works as a professional consulting engineering geologist for CMT technical. Holly has also enjoyed summer employment with Science Getaways as a science communicator and geology specialist. Recently she has developed training materials for workforce development in geothermal energy for Fervo Energy. She incorporates her field work with teaching students to introduce real-life geologic and engineering problems and solutions. Geothermal energy and its applications have always been an interest for Holly since she was very young. She has mentored students in independent studies both in engineering geology and mechanical engineering. Hopefully getting more interest in interdisciplinary geothermal projects for students in the near future.