Dr. Scott Tyler, a researcher in DRI's Water Resources Center with a joint appointment at the University of Nevada, Reno, has been selected the 1999 Distinguished Darcy Lecturer by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA).

In announcing his selection, the NGWA said Tyler "has continually invoked and developed sophisticated quantitative analyses, using a combination of both field and laboratory methods to resolve challenging hydrogeologic problems."

The Darcy Distinguished Lecture Series will take Tyler to 20 or more North American universities and research organizations during the academic year. Under joint sponsorship by the NGWA and international host institutions, Tyler will also speak in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. The lecture series culminates with the keynote address at the NGWA annual meeting in November 1999.

Tyler's research focuses on the processes by which groundwater transports and interacts with pollutants. He is studying the potential contamination of Lake Tahoe by groundwater flows. In southern Nevada, Tyler is investigating how radionuclides--byproducts of past Nevada Test Site detonations--are transported to the water table by water percolating down from the surface.

His studies have also examined the process by which salty water displaces fresh water in arid environments, a long-term issue in managing irrigation systems. Tyler recently served on a special National Academy of Sciences committee evaluating a proposed radioactive waste site in southern California.

Tyler is the second DRI faculty member to be selected for the lecture series. His former doctoral advisor, Dr. Stephen Wheatcraft, was a Darcy lecturer in 1990 while on the faculty of DRI. Wheatcraft is now a professor and associate dean in the Mackay School of Mines at UNR.

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