My specialty is data acquisition for groundwater and hydrometeorological applications, especially remote environmental sensing and aquifer characterization.
Other research interests include numerical modeling of hydraulics and heat transport as well as evaluating the functionality of springs and riparian areas.
My work seeks to identify and understand the coupling between physical heterogeneity and biochemical processes that control environmental biogeochemical reactions, energy, and mass transfer processes in the environment. We design and implement multiscale laboratory experiments visualization and numerical modeling.
My research is highly collaborative and multidisciplinary that provides domain expertise in scale biogeochemistry, reactive transport processes, multiphase flow systems, lab-to-field-scale hydrogeology, and computational geochemistry.
Dr. John N. Louie, Professor at the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, has over forty years of university teaching and research experience in geophysics and seismology. He has published with students several well-cited papers on innovations in seismic imaging of earthquake faults in California, Nevada, and New Zealand. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Louie has developed a faster and more efficient site-assessment survey technique for earthquake-hazard evaluation, Refraction Microtremor. Research on this technology continues, measuring thousands of sites in California, Nevada, and New Zealand; and on using geological and geotechnical measurements to predict earthquake shaking from 3D wave physics, and improve communities’ resilience to disasters.
I am an applied geologist by training and an opportunistic scientist in practice, meaning I love geology but am interested in many areas of the natural sciences. I can abbreviate my research focus with the acronym GASP: geophysical and surface processes.
Geophysical Processes. I use geophysical and remote sensing instruments to study changes on the Earth’s surface and within the shallow subsurface. I will be starting a research project (early 2023) on utilizing passive seismic methods to map bedrock depth (or sediment thickness) as an indirect approach to identify buried faults and to study extensional tectonics of the Las Vegas valley.
Surface Processes. I use an interdisciplinary approach to study our dynamic Earth. A major research project I am currently working on (2021-future) is titled Analyses of spring water chemistry and microbiology in the Spring Mountains, Nevada. I use field and laboratory methods across multiple disciplines (geology, biology, and chemistry) to quantify physical properties of high-elevation springs and analyze microbial communities found in these springs.
I teach courses that are required or electives for the BS in Environmental & Resource Science and BS in Biology. I teach the following courses at Nevada State:
–GEOL 101A/L Exploring Planet Earth Lecture and Lab
–GEOL 333 Principles of Geomorphology
–GEOL 405 Geology of the National Parks
–NRES 322 Soils
–NRES 467 Regional and Global Issues in Environmental Science
–BIOL/ENV 494 Biology and Environmental Science Colloquium
I received a Ph.D. in Geology from Michigan Technological University, an MS in Geosciences and BS in Geophysics from Western Michigan University, and an AS from Kalamazoo Valley Community College. I was the Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Science at Trinity College (Hartford, CT) and a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellow while earning my Ph.D. I have also worked as a Geological Mapping Technician for two summers at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I assisted with the creation of ten surficial geology quadrangle maps by acquiring near-surface geophysical data and auger samples.
Douglas Sims is Dean, School of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics at the College of Southern Nevada. He leads a school of more than 280 staff (FT and PT) serving 18000+ students. His focus is in sediments, geochemistry, environmental chemistry, and paleohydrology in the Southern Great Basin and Mojave Desert. Current projects are paleohydrology of desert playas, trace metals scavenging by rock varnish, surface water quality, and sediment migration and transport of trace metals in agricultural soils.
Dr. Dana is the NSF EPSCoR Project Director and the Nevada State EPSCoR Director. Dr. Dana’s expertise is in surface water hydrology and energy balance of desert, seasonally snow-covered, and polar regions. Present research projects include 1) nutrient and sediment source assessment for TMDL development in the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River Watersheds; (2) hydrochemical modeling in a Lake Tahoe watershed (3) effects of fire on nutrient dynamics in forested watersheds, (4) evaporation from lakes and reservoirs in support of the Truckee River Operating Agreement, and (5) spatially distributed energy balance modeling for climate change detection in Antarctica. Dr. Dana is the Science Advisor to the Truckee River TMDL and Watershed Council, and is a collaborator with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research project.
Dr. Boyle is a watershed hydrologist with over 25 years of experience in the field of hydrology and water resources with an emphasis in the development, implementation, and evaluation of complex computer-based hydrologic models to simulate watershed response to precipitation (rainfall and snowmelt). Integrated computer-based modeling of hydrologic processes to understand the impacts of historic and future climate on water resources in arid and semi-arid environments using paleoclimate information (e.g., pluvial lake shore dating, tree ring records and other climate indicators), global climate model estimates (e.g., paleo, historic, and future precipitation and temperature estimates from both statistical and dynamically downscaled studies), and instrumental ground-based information (e.g., NWS Co-op data, NRCS SNOTEL data, and PRISM data sets). Additional research interests include streamflow forecasting, water leasing and banking, water markets, GIS, remote sensing, parameter estimation and uncertainty analysis, and automated multi-criteria optimization. Dr. Boyle is a former Director of the Nevada Water Resources Research Institute.
Dr. Pohll’s major research interest is in numerical simulation of hydrologic systems. Evaluation of complex hydrologic systems requires tools from the traditionally fragmented fields of surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrogeology, and statistics. He is specifically interested in the development and application of numerical models that allow the end users to better understand the system and to make decisions within an uncertain environment. He uses state-of-the-art numerical tools to evaluate the all of the uncertainties inherent in the modeling environment so the end users understand how to quantify the worth of the modeling results in relation to the ramifications of the decision.
Dr. Acharya’s research involves aquatic and biological stoichiometry, the study of balance of energy and multiple chemical elements. He is particularly interested in how human management of watersheds affects aquatic invertebrate community structure in aquatic environments. Aquatic invertebrates face special evolutionary challenges in these systems due to factors such as hydroperiod, flow or anthropogenic effects. My specific studies involve observational and experimental studies at various scales, including laboratory cultures (zooplankton, algal chemostats), short-term field experiments and sustained whole-ecosystem manipulations. His other research interests are nutrient cycling, wastewater treatment systems, groundwater management, and ecological modeling. Recently completed studies include role of zooplankton populations in large river (Ohio River) food webs, impact of changes in hydrological conditions (e.g., excessive rainfall or drought conditions) in riverine biota via changes in nutrient and food conditions.
Dr. Sajjad Ahmad is an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research is focused on application of systems approach to understand and manage complex water and environmental systems. The goal is to provide decision support to policy makers for sustainable management resources. The water-energy nexus group is studying energy use in water and wastewater treatment plans and energy use in water distribution systems. Ahmad has also contributed to research on malaria control efforts in sub-Saharan Africa with his study of water ponds that provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes.