Summer 2021: UT Hydrology Newsletter

Groundwater Field Methods Class

The 2021 Groundwater Field Methods class at the White Outdoor Learning Center. The class was monitoring installation of a well and core logging at the site. Drilling was donated by Pat Goodson of Geoprojects International. The instructors were Daniella Rempe and Ashley Matheny, and the TAs were Suvan Cabraal, Logan Schmidt, and Anna Turetskaia. The Groundwater Field Methods classes have benefitted from the support of our alumni. This year the class studied at the White Outdoor Learning Center, and Geoprojects International gave the drilling demonstration as they have been doing nearly every year since 2007.

Hydrology News Summer 21

Instructors Daniella Rempe and Ashley Matheny kneeling, respectively, at the left and right of the first row. Included in photo are TAs Suvan Cabraal, Logan Schmidt, and Anna Turetskaia; students Camelia Baluta, Josh Collmann, Brooke Fry, Shane Heath, Harry Khuc, Lucas Marques, Tyson McKinney, William Nguyen, Regina Padilla, Emma Peterman, Daphne Smith, and Caitlin Tran; “the old guys” (see below), Mark Cloos (faculty), and the drilling crew.

Photo by Scarlette Hsieh.

Old Guys At White

The old guys (left to right) – Brian Hunt (BS, 1996; MS, 2000), Marcus Gary (BS, 2001; PhD, 2009), Bayani Cardenas (faculty). Steve Bond (BS, 1974; MA, 1982), Pat Goodson (BA, 1982), and Jack Sharp (emeritus faculty).

Photo by Scarlette Hsieh.

The White Family Outdoor Learning Center is on 266 acres southwest of Dripping Springs that was donated to the Jackson School by Les (BS, 1956) and Diane White. It is a wonderful resource for present and future students. Check out these stories for more information:

Geoprojects International in Austin has been a successful drilling company since 1992. Pat Godson (BA, 1982) is its Director and President and Jill Harding (BS, 1985) is its Director and Treasurer. Pat also serves on the Geology Foundation Advisory Council. He has been a long standing advocate for Groundwater Field Methods and we appreciate his commitment.

Blast from the Past

Blast From Past Hydrology

The 2007 field methods class with the Geoprojects International drill rig in Hornsby Bend. Careful viewers may be able to pick out Pat Goodson at the far left (standing) and Daniella Rempe, barely visible, standing on the rig.

Photo by Jack Sharp.

Awards

  • Chuck Abolt (MS, 2015; PhD, 2019) is a Los Alamos Director’s Postdoc Fellow. Chuck, a recent R&D 100 Award winner, is one of 30 invited to attend this year’s 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. He was part of the team that created the award-winning Amanzi-ATS, an open- source software that offers the most complete suite of surface/subsurface physical processes to model complex environmental systems across multiple scales.
  • Lakin Beal (MS, 2019) had the 2020-2021 Runner Up JSG Best Graduate paper.
  • Justin Thompson (MS, 2018; MGPS, 2018; PhD student) had the Best JSG PhD Talk Spring 2021.

Alumni & Faculty News

  • Keg Alexander (MA, 1990) recently presented a paper at the World Geothermal Congress entitled “Hydrogeological Controls on Stratovolcanic Geothermal Systems in the Western Branch of the East African Rift System.” Keg is currently a hydrogeologist and geothermal geologist at Beca Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand.”
  • Ted Angle (BA, 1993) is with the US Army National Guard in Washington, DC.
  • Ben Bass (BS, 2011) is a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California, Los Angeles
  • Joanna Crowe Curran (MA, 1994) is now with the Seattle District of the Corps of Engineers. She is their subject matter expert on sediment transport and fluvial geomorphology.
  • Dylan Hampshire (BS, 2014) is a Project Scientist at Latitudes Environmental in Houston.
  • Nico Hauwert (BS, 1985; PhD, 2009) is a Hydrogeologist and BCP Preserve Program Manager at City of Austin. He reports that his “long-awaited book about Mountain Cedars (Ashe Junipers) in the Texas Hill Country has finally been published.” Nico will be running a field trip and is planning to present a paper on widespread filling of caves at the National Karst and Cave Symposium in San Marcos next November 1-5.
  • Nick Houtchens (BS, 2010) is with ERM in Austin.
  • Matt Kaufman (PhD, 2018) is with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.
  • James McCallum (exchange student, 2004) is a Research Fellow at University of Western Australia.
  • Wylie Walker (BS, 2014) completed his MS at Colorado School of Mines on Guadalupe Mountains National Park. He is now in Denver working at Ovintiv (formerly Encana Natural Gas).
  • Chuck Abolt (MS, 2015; PhD, 2019) is a Los Alamos Director’s Postdoc Fellow. Chuck, a recent R&D 100 Award winner, is one of 30 invited to attend this year’s 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. He was part of the team that created the award-winning Amanzi-ATS, an open- source software that offers the most complete suite of surface/subsurface physical processes to model complex environmental systems across multiple scales.
  • Tom Wiles (MS, 2007) is the Lead of Geoscience for the Reservoir Characterization Integration Group at Central Plateau Cleanup Company. He is currently working remotely from Houston, but will relocate to Washington in the fall. Melissa and the girls are doing well. Tom says, “Hopefully, I can get an Austin visit or two in to check out the Sarkisian led Longhorns one more time before I go!”

Lost Alumni

We are seeking email addresses for the following alums (if you have a contact email for any of them, please let Dr. Sharp know):

Briana Ferrari (BS, 2020)
Steve Graham (PhD, 2000)
Katie Gravel (BS, 1983)
Chris Krejci (BS, 2007)
Eric North (BS, 2000)
John Snatic (BS, 2002; MS, 2013)
Phil Teas (BS, 1991)
Matt Wilson (BS, 1991) Kyle Winn (BS, 1987)


The Hydrology Newsletter is compiled by Dr. Jack Sharp. If you have news that you would like to share or would like to receive the newsletter in your inbox, please email: jmssharp@jsg.utexas.edu .

Note: Because Dr. Sharp is emeritus and also because of COVID, newsletters are now more irregular and not nearly monthly as had been done since 1985.