Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences

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New research opportunities to advance hydrologic sciences promise a better understanding of the role of water in the Earth system that could help improve human welfare and the health of the environment. Reaching this understanding will require both exploratory research to better understand how the natural environment functions, and problem-driven research, to meet needs such as flood protection, supply of drinking water, irrigation, and water pollution. Collaboration among hydrologists, engineers, and scientists in other disciplines will be central to meeting the interdisciplinary research challenges outline in this report. New technological capabilities in remote sensing, chemical analysis, computation, and hydrologic modeling will help scientists leverage new research opportunities.

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200 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-22283-4
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-22284-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/13293

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National Research Council. 2012. Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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George M. Hornberger

George M. Hornberger, Chair, NAE, is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University. His research interests are catchment hydrology and hydrochemistry, as well as the transport of colloids in geological media. His work centers on the coupling of field observations with mathematical modeling, with a focus on understanding how water is routed physically through soils and rocks to streams and how hydrological processes and geochemical processes combine to produce observed stream dynamics. This modeling work allows the extension of work on individual catchments to regional scales and to the investigation of the impact of meteorological driving variables on catchment hydrology. Dr. Hornberger is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, the Society of Sigma Xi, and the American Women in Science. He has served on numerous NRC studies including the standing Committee on Hydrologic Science and is currently a member of the Report Review Committee. He also chaired the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. Dr. Hornberger received his B.S. and M.S.E. from Drexel University and his Ph.D. in hydrology from Stanford University.

Emily S. Bernhardt

Emily S. Bernhardt is an Assistant Professor at Duke University in the Department of Biology and the Nicholas School of the Environment. Dr. Bernhardt holds a B.S. in Biology from UNC Chapel Hill and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. A biogeochemist, her research program is fundamentally concerned with understanding how nutrient cycles are changing as a result of human accelerated environmental change, and also how (and whether) effective ecosystem management or restoration can reverse these trends. Most of her research is focused on stream and wetland ecosystems within urban and agricultural landscapes. Dr. Bernhardt was the coordinator of the National River Restoration Science Synthesis and served as a member of the Ecological Society of America’s Visions committee. She currently serves on the External Advisory Board for the Southeastern Division of Environmental Defense, the Science Advisory Board of the Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, and as a consultant to the Sierra Club, Earth Justice, and the Southern Environmental Law Center on issues related to water quality degradation and river and wetland restoration and mitigation.

William E. Dietrich

William E. Dietrich, NAS, is a professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California at Berkeley. He also has an appointment in the Department of Geography and the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and is affiliated with the Archeological Research Facility. He is co-founder of the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping and a member of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics. His Berkeley-based research group is focusing on mechanistic, quantitative understanding of the form and evolution of landscapes and the linkages between ecological and geomorphic processes. He has numerous publications and honors, including being named a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, both in 2003. Dr. Dietrich received his B.A. from Occidental College, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Dr. Dara Entekhabi

Dara Entekhabi is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests are in the basic understanding of coupled surface, subsurface, and atmospheric hydrologic systems that may form the bases for enhanced hydrologic predictability. More specifically, his current research is in land-atmosphere interactions, remote sensing, physical hydrology, operational hydrology, hydrometeorology, groundwater-surface water interaction, and hillslope hydrology. He was founding chair of the Water Science and Technology Board’s Committee on Hydrologic Science, has served on the Water Science and Technology Board and the Committee to Assess the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) Initiative program. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Clark University and his Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Graham E. Fogg

Graham E. Fogg is Professor of Hydrogeology in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include groundwater contaminant transport; groundwater basin characterization and management; geologic/geostatistical characterization of subsurface heterogeneity for improved pollutant transport modeling; numerical modeling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport; role of molecular diffusion in contaminant transport and remediation; long-term sustainability of regional groundwater quality; vulnerability of aquifers to non-point-source groundwater contaminants. He was the 2002 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer awarded by the Geological Society of America Hydrogeology Division. Dr. Fogg co-developed the graduate program in Hydrologic Sciences at the University of California, Davis using the 1991 NRC report Opportunities in the Field of Hydrologic Sciences as a reference. He currently serves as the chair of the program. Dr. Fogg received his B.S. in Hydrology from the University of New Hampshire, his M.S. in Hydrology from the University of Arizona, and his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou is the University of Minnesota’s McKnight Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Chair in Environmental Engineering. She is Director of the NSF Science and Technology Center “National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics” (NCED), and has served as Director of St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. Her area of research is hydrology and geomorphology, with special interest on scaling theories, multiscale dynamics and space-time modeling of precipitation and landforms. She has served as associate editor of Water Resources Research, J. of Geophysical Research, Advances in Water Resources, Hydrologic and Earth System Sciences, and as editor of J. Hydrometeorology. She has also served in many national and international advisory boards including the Water Science and Technology Board, NSF, NASA and EU proposal review panels, and in several NRC studies. She received a diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida.

Willliam J. Gutowski, Jr.

William J. Gutowski, Jr., is Professor of Meteorology in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University. His research is focused on the role of atmospheric dynamics in climate, with emphasis on the dynamics of the hydrologic cycle and regional climate. Dr. Gutowski’s research program entails a variety of modeling and data analysis approaches to capture the necessary spatial and temporal scales of these dynamics and involves working through the Regional Climate Modeling Laboratory at Iowa State University. His work also includes regional modeling of Arctic, African, and East Asian climates and involves collaboration with scientists in these regions. He served on the NRC’s Committee on Climate Change and U.S. Transportation. Dr. Gutowski was a contributing author on the regional climate chapters of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third and Fourth Assessment Reports and a member of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Panels (2005-2008). Dr. Gutowski received a PhD in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor of science degree in astronomy and physics from Yale University.

W. B. Lyons

W. Berry Lyons is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the Ohio State University and is the Director of the School of Earth Sciences. Previously he was a faculty member at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He served as the Ohio State University Director of the Byrd Polar Research Center from 1999 to 2009. Dr. Lyons research interests include environmental geochemistry of trace metals, such as mercury, the causes and rates of chemical weathering and landscape change, the dynamics of carbon in the terrestrial environment, the role of agriculture and urbanization on water resources, and the impact of climate change on polar ecosystems. Dr. Lyons is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Geophysical Union. He is a past member of the NRC’s Polar Research Board, and past chair of the NRC Committee on Designing an Arctic Observing Network. Dr. Lyons received a B.A. from Brown University, and an M.Sc and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.

Kenneth W. Potter

Kenneth W. Potter is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Potter's teaching and research interests include hydrology and water resources, including hydrologic modeling, estimation of hydrologic risk, estimation of hydrologic budgets, watershed monitoring and assessment, and hydrologic restoration. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and a Woodrow Wilson fellow. Dr. Potter is a past member of the Water Science and Technology Board and has served on many of its committees including the standing Committee on Hydrologic Science. He received his B.S. degree in geology from Louisiana State University and his Ph.D. in geography and environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Scott W. Tyler

Scott W. Tyler is a Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Tyler's areas of focus span the wide range of arid region hydrology, with particular interest in bridging the gap between hydrogeology and soil physics in the newly emerging area of vadose zone hydrology. His work has long been focused on studies of moisture flux and groundwater recharge in arid environments. Recently, his group has been developing fiber optic temperature sensing (DTS) to a wide range of environmental and hydrologic questions, in collaboration with researchers from Oregon State University, the USGS and the University of Delft. Dr. Tyler has focused on educating U.S. students on the problems and issues faced by citizens of developing countries with respect to safe drinking water. He leads volunteer graduate and undergraduate trips to Chile, Haiti and soon, to west Africa to train local villagers in well drilling and well repair. Dr. Tyler received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Connecticut, his M.S. in Hydrology for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and his Ph.D. in Hydrology/Hydrogeology from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Henry J. Vaux, Jr.

Henry J. Vaux, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Resource Economics at both the University of California in Berkley and Riverside. He is also Associate Vice President Emeritus of the University of California system. He also previously served as director of California's Center for Water Resources. His principal research interests are the economics of water use, water quality, and water marketing. Prior to joining the University of California, he worked at the Office of Management and Budget and served on the staff of the National Water Commission. Dr. Vaux has served on the NRC committees on Assessment of Water Resources Research, Western Water Management, and Ground Water Recharge, and Sustainable Underground Storage of Recoverable Water. He was chair of the Water Science and Technology Board from 1994 to 2001. He is a National Associate of The National Academies. Dr. Vaux received an A.B. from the University of California, Davis in Biological Sciences, an M.A. in Natural Resource Administration, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.

Claire Welty

Claire Welty is the Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Welty’s work has primarily focused on transport processes in aquifers; her current research interest is in watershed-scale urban hydrology, particularly in urban groundwater. Prior to her appointment at UMBC, Dr. Welty was a faculty member at Drexel University for 15 years, where she taught hydrology and also served as Associate Director of the School of Environmental Science, Engineering, and Policy. Dr. Welty currently the chair of the Water Science and Technology Board and has previously served on several NRC study committees including serving as chair of the Committee on Reducing Stormwater Discharge Contributions to Water Pollution. Dr. Welty received a B.A. in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia, an M.S. in environmental engineering from the George Washington University, and a Ph.D. degree in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Connie A. Woodhouse

Connie A. Woodhouse is an associate professor in the School of Geography and Development at the University of Arizona, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Previously, she was a physical scientist at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, Paleoclimatology Branch. Her primary research focuses on climatic and hydrologic conditions of the last 2000 years in western North America and utilizes tree rings to develop reconstructions of past hydrology. Another key research interest is the applications of scientific information and data to resource management. Dr. Woodhouse has served on several board and panels including the U.S. National Committee of the International Quaternary Association, an NSF review panel, and an NRC study of the management of the Colorado River, and is an associate editor for the journal Dendrochronologia. Dr. Woodhouse received a B.A. in environmental education from Prescott (AZ) College, an M.S. in geography from the University of Utah, and a PhD in geosciences from the University of Arizona.

Chunmiao Zheng

Chunmiao Zheng is currently professor of hydrogeology in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama. He is also a visiting professor and founding director of the Center for Water Research at Peking University, China. The primary areas of his research are contaminant transport, groundwater management, and hydrologic modeling. Zheng is developer of the widely used MT3D series of contaminant transport models, and co-author of the textbook Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling published by Wiley in 1995 (1st edition) and 2002 (2nd edition). Zheng is recipient of the 1998 John Hem Excellence in Science and Engineering Award from the National Ground Water Association, a fellow of the Geological Society of America, and the 2009 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer awarded by the Geological Society of America Hydrogeology Division. Zheng is currently software editor for the journal Ground Water and associate editor for Journal of Hydrology. He is a member of the Committee on Hydrologic Science of the National Research Council, and president (2009-2013) of the International Commission on Groundwater of the International Association of Hydrologic Sciences. Dr. Zheng holds a Ph.D.in hydrogeology with a minor in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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