Field site on the Wisconsin River studying surface water-groundwater contaminant transport
Lab Overview
The Subsurface Hydrophysics Group is focused on gaining a fundamental mechanistic understanding of fluid, solute, and colloid transport processes in subsurface environments. Our approach often leverages experimental observations and in situ imaging—such as X-ray computed tomography, positron emission tomography, or optical imaging—combined with field observations and analytical, numerical, and data science methods to describe transport processes in complex geologic and environmental systems across temporal and spatial scales. Due to the fundamental nature of this approach, and the ubiquity of fluid transport in porous media, this work has important applications across a range of environmental and geological processes including contaminant migration in the vadose zone, solute transport in fractured aquifers, heat recovery in geothermal energy systems, bacteria transport in the subsurface, and carbon dioxide transport and immobilization in geologic carbon storage projects.
Our research group is recruiting new Ph.D. students for Fall 2027! We have several funded projects available, including an NSF-funded project on fluid flow in fractures at both the laboratory and field scales. This position comes with multi-year research assistantship funding, providing strong support for graduate study and research.
Recent Papers and Preprints
A Laboratory‐Validated, Graph‐Based Flow and Transport Model for Naturally Fractured Media
Published in Geophysical Research Letters (Preprint, Data and analysis codes)
Sub-core permeability inversion using positron emission tomography data–Ensemble Kalman Filter performance comparison and ensemble generation using an advanced convolutional neural network
Published in Advances in Water Resources (Preprint, Data and analysis codes)
In Situ Measurements of Dynamic Bacteria Transport and Attachment in Heterogeneous Sand-Packed Columns
Published in Environmental Science & Technology (Data and analysis codes)
PFAS adsorption in the vadose zone and implications for long term groundwater contamination
Published in Environmental Science & Technology (Preprint, Data and analysis codes)
Quantification of the impact of acidified brine on fracture-matrix transport in a naturally fractured shale using in situ imaging and modeling
Published in Energy & Fuels (Preprint, Data and analysis codes)
Recent Conferences and Presentations
Interpore 18th Annual Conference on Porous Media 2026: Nantes, France
Group members presented work on fracture-matrix solute and colloid transport low permeability rocks.
AGU Fall Meeting, December 2025: New Orleans
Vy Le presented work on hyporheic exchange of phosphorous in field and laboratory experiments.
AGU Fall Meeting, December 2024: Washington DC
Group members presented work on PFAS in the vadose zone and hyporheic exchange of phosphorous.
