Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte is an American geophysicist who is Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University.

After completing a BS in Engineering Science at SUNY Buffalo, Pyrak-Nolte was a graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic, where she studied rift basin geometry using refraction of isotherms with John K.

[3] Pyrak-Nolte was appointed in 1992 as an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences.

[8] To better understand these fractures, Pyrak-Nolte makes use of 3D printing to create synthetic rock samples from a powder of bassanite.

During the printing process the bassanite undergoes a chemical reaction with a water-based binder, forming a gypsum sample with precisely controlled internal structures.