Snapshots in the Academia- Industry Continuum
Chak-Hau Michael Tso, SA-5582 Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona
In 2012, I was preparing to graduate from the University of Texas with my B.S. in geosystems engineering and hydrogeology, and debating between pursuing graduate stud- ies and taking a job in the industry. One of my greatest fears was becoming disconnected from the industry while in school. I was afraid that the skills I would learn in graduate school would not be desirable for the industry. Also, I was worried that employers would think that I would only be prepared for academia and not for the real-world job. Even if I was fortunate to obtain a research position after I graduated, how would I know whether my research was useful to practitioners?
Two years have passed. I have found more connections than disconnections. I have found myself connecting with the industry in different areas of my graduate student life. The diversity of graduate school life has provided me snapshots of what the academia-industry continuum is. Aside from bat- tling with excessive coursework, I am working on a research project that has a strong industry connection. For instance, the principal investigator (PI) of my project is a practicing environmental consultant. The objective of this project is to demonstrate the hydraulic tomography method1 in the field, especially in operating environmental sites2. In brief, hydraulic tomography is an aquifer characterization method that relies on the differences in subsurface flow fields when pumping/injection locations are changed. A certain pumping/ injection configuration can be viewed as a snapshot of the subsurface structure. Since there are many preferential flow paths in the subsurface, analysis using only an individual snap- shot will be heavily biased. Therefore, hydraulic tomography emphasizes on switching pumping/injection configurations to generate multiple snapshots of an aquifer system. By recording the changes in head3 in these “snapshots” at a number of obser- vation wells, and jointly interpreting the data using a robust inverse model, this method can map subsurface structures in detail such that the maps can be reliably used to predict the flow of water and transport of contaminants.
My project needs to show that the hydraulic tomography method works well at a site where a pump-and-treat4 sys- tem has been, and continues to be running. The changes in pumping and injection rates during the daily operation are the mechanism that creates the various snapshots. In other words, numerous snapshots have been generated since the pump-and-treat system at the site started running decades
ago. My project site contains more than a hundred monitor- ing wells, as do many similar sites; therefore, pump-and-treat sites are ideal candidates for hydraulic tomography survey because there is no additional cost involved in drilling wells, or pumping and injecting fluids. We can easily take advantage of the snapshots generated by the existing wells and pumping- injection activities by installing pressure transducers in some of the monitoring wells. Since my first day working on this project, I have found this study to be extremely rewarding. I am learning a lot from reviewing the piles of reports by previ- ous consultants regarding how the site works. I have learned to submit requests to site personnel early so that they can get through the different levels of management in a timely manner. I am working side-by-side with my PI, as well as geologists and engineers at the site. I have learned from first-hand experience about the constraints and considerations of managing and conducting a field investigation at an environmental site. All of the above considerations are not something I would have experienced in a classroom.
Graduate students are always busy with research, home- work, and different kinds of funding and internship applica- tions. This has made participating in a local professional organization an unattractive option for my scare supply of spare time. Nonetheless, I did not regret being a part of the organizing committee for the 2013 Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) meeting in Tucson, AZ. It was an eye-opening experience to spend time with a number of hydrologists volunteering after work, and seeing how they keep track of details in an organized manner and are able to put together a professional conference.
Conferences are not only great places to learn about new ideas, but these events also provide great opportunities to connect with fellow students and colleagues. When I first started graduate school, my narrow definition of conferences only included nationwide academic conferences such as the GSA or AGU meetings. I have had wonderful times at these meetings -- many great presentations and conversations have inspired me. However, these conferences are not designed for practitioners from business and industry. Instead, practitio- ners often choose to attend professional and local meetings. To my surprise, my time at the AIPG/AHS meeting and WM Symposia this year has substantially helped me learn about the environmental industry. I have found that practitioners
1. See the seminal paper: Yeh and Liu (2000), Water Resources Research.
tian.hwr.arizona.edu/data/pub/c891af81bc3f- c2bb11c2acf96d63c54e.pdf
2. EPA Superfund sites are good examples. 3. Head is a measurement of liquid pressure, expressed in the units of length.
4. Pump-and-treat is the most commonly used groundwater remediation method. It involves injecting clean water to push contaminated water to pumping wells for extraction and treatment. Historically, it has suffered from low clean-up efficiency because the complex variations in structure in the subsurface have often caused the injected water to bypass the contaminants.
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