REU Program in Geo-Environmental Systems

OBJECTIVES AND INTENDED IMPACTS

With funding from the National Science Foundation, faculty from the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) are sponsoring an REU program for 13 undergraduate students centered around the disciplines of geo-environmental engineering and science. The program expands upon the research theme of environmental monitoring and modeling, the focus of the previous REU Site award, to the broader area of geo-environmental systems. Full understanding of geo-environmental systems requires knowledge of fundamental physical, chemical, and biological microscale processes, how they manifest themselves at the macroscale, and their implication on potential solutions. Such a holistic perspective requires a cross-disciplinary team of environmental scientists and geo-environmental engineers, which is found within CEES. Research topics are delineated below.

Consistent with NSF program goals, our objective is to immerse students in advanced research topics within geo-environmental engineering and science. To meet this objective, we follow a simple formula: provide REU students with meaningful research projects that span all major steps of scientific inquiry, viz, formulate questions, develop hypothesis, conduct literature review, set-up experimental matrix, analyze and synthesize results, and prepare final reports (oral and written). Activities extend beyond the laboratory or field site, where REU students are members of a faculty/graduate student research team, to include orientation seminars, hazardous waste and safety training, Friday luncheons devoted to research issues and practice presentations and ethics, field trips to research facilities, and social functions.>

Our vision of an effective REU program is one that uses an engaging scholarly atmosphere to motivate and prepare undergraduate students to pursue advanced degrees in the critical areas of geo-environmental engineering and science. Such scientists and engineers are needed in consulting and industry in order to be good stewards of our natural and built environment, and they are needed in research labs and academia to further our understanding of geo-environmental systems.

POTENTIAL REU RESEARCH PROJECTS

The figure below summarizes the scope of CEES's research activities. CEES, being one of the few programs in the country to house environmental science and geo-environmental engineering in a single academic unit, is well-suited toward focused, cross-disciplinary, multiscale studies. At the microscale, we examine fundamental physical, chemical, and biological behavior of geo-environmental systems. Another group of faculty focuses on phenomenological observations/models at the macroscale, which in turn interacts with a diverse set of applications, including risk assessment, environmental impact, and remediation. Microscale and macroscale processes are bridged through averaging theory or techniques borrowed from the theory of mixtures. Observations at the macroscale provide feedback to our understanding and testing of microscale processes, thus completing the loop. In the diagram, the interlocking circles represent cross-disciplinary areas of collaboration.

The following briefly outlines potential REU projects (arranged alphabetically by faculty member) in the context of this research umbrella. Also noted are some areas of collaboration and each faculty member's primary areas of research (in parenthesis, using the abbreviation scheme shown in the figure).

Dr. Elizabeth Butler
Environmental Transformation Reactions (Mi-C, Mi-P). Students will work on one of two projects related to environmental transformation reactions. The first project involves measuring the rates and products of degradation of chlorinated organic pollutants by iron metal under a variety of experimental conditions. The goal of these experiments is to identify the conditions under which hazardous pollutants are transformed to harmless products by iron metal. The second project involves measuring the rates of oxidation of common wastewater constituents such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, ammonia, and amines, by titanium dioxide photocatalytic oxidation, an advanced water treatment process.

Dr. Tohren Kibbey
Environmental Interactions in Contaminated Unsaturated Soils (Mi-C, Mi-P) . Many contaminated sites contain complex mixtures of organic pollutants, which may include oils, solvents and detergents. Understanding how mixed contaminants interact with soils can be important for designing treatment strategies, and for understanding how contaminants will influence the physical properties of the soil. REU students will measure interactions between complex organic liquids and natural soils, studying the interaction of organic liquids on soil physical and chemical behavior.

Dr. Robert Knox
Groundwater Tracer Tests (Ma-P, Ma-A). A forced-gradient tracer study is one method to evaluate hydrodynamic processes in-situ. Injection and extraction wells provide containment of the injected tracer, while a series of multilevel samplers track migration. Analysis of spatial and temporal trends in tracer concentrations allows one to quantify macroscale aquifer parameters. REU students will be involved in sample collection and analysis, and data interpretation for the tracer test.

Dr. Randall Kolar
Environmental Modeling (Ma-M, Ma-A). Students will develop, analyze, and apply physics-based models of contaminant transport and fate for both surface water and subsurface systems. Students will be paired with others conducting physical experiments (e.g., Drs. Sabatini or Nairn) so that the resulting data can be used for model calibration and verification. Models range from analytical water quality models to complex numerical codes that simulate the hydrodynamic behavior of lakes.

Dr. Gerald Miller
Unsaturated Soil Characterization (Ma-P, Ma-A) . Students will conduct field and laboratory experiments to obtain engineering properties (e.g., seepage, mechanical behavior) of unsaturated soils as a function of moisture content and matric suction. The influence of contaminants on these properties will also be examined. By working with other REU students involved with environmental modeling, unsaturated soil properties will be incorporated into physics-based models being developed to characterize transport and fate processes (e.g., see Dr. Kolar's work).

Dr. Michael Mooney
Compaction of Unsaturated Soils (Ma-P, Ma-A). Students will study the vibratory compaction of partially saturated soils in a large-scale experimental environment. Students will gain first-hand experience with microsensors, e.g., accelerometers, pore water pressure probes, earth pressure sensors, and data acquisition systems. Students will prepare large scale test pit specimens, gather experimental data, and assess stresses and strains during the compaction experiments. Implications on geo-environmental applications, such as landfill liners and caps, will be explored.

Dr. K. K. (Muralee) Muraleetharan
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering (Ma-M, Ma-A). Students will study the behavior of geotechnical engineering structures such as dams, embankments, and waterfront structures subjected to earthquake loads using analytical, numerical, and experimental methods. Students will get an opportunity to analyze some real world structures such as the Port of Los Angeles' Pier 400 for seismic loads and develop visualization tools to animate the results obtained from finite element analyses.

Dr. Robert W. Nairn
Ecological Biogeochemistry and Wetlands Science. Students will examine the ecology and biogeochemistry of natural and constructed ecosystems, including wetlands, streams, lakes and riparian areas. Students will work in a team environment with Dr. Strevett's group. Emphasis will be placed on investigations of surface water quality, and links with biological integrity, elemental cycling of natural and anthropogenic materials, ecological restoration and ecological engineering.

Dr. Mark A. Nanny
Characterization of Humic and Fulvic Acids (Mi-C, Mi-P) . Humic and fulvic acids from a young landfill leachate (less than 1 year old) will be isolated and characterized using elemental analysis, infra-red spectroscopy, 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and thermodegradative gas chromatographic techniques. Moreover, the role of these humic and fulvic acids as electron-transfer agents will be examined in abiotic anaerobic degradation reactions of tetrachloroethene and p-nitrophenol.

Dr. Deborah Nelson
Environmental Health Risk Assessment (Ma-A, Ma-P) . Environmental impact assessments are required for major projects, policies, and programs, yet few quantitative methods exist for characterizing impact on human health. This research examines factors affecting health (environment, medical care, life-style) to develop a semi-quantitative index that can be used to predict the impact of projects, policies, and programs on human health outcomes, primarily morbidity and mortality. The index will be applied in both developed and developing countries.

Dr. David Sabatini
Contaminant Transport and Fate (Mi-C, Ma-P) Students will study physicochemical processes that impact contaminant transport in porous media. Specifically, students will study sorption - desorption equilibria and kinetics, and how they are impacted by chemical and sediment properties. In addition, students will see how these processes couple with other physicochemical and biodegradation processes to impact contaminant transport and ultimate fate in the subsurface. Work will be coordinated with Drs. Strevett, Nanny, Butler, Kibbey, and Kolar.

Dr. Keith Strevett
Applied Environmental Microbiology. Students will examine the ecology and biogeochemistry of natural and constructed ecosystems, including wetlands, streams, lakes and riparian areas. Students will work in a team environment with Dr. Strevett's group. Emphasis will be placed on investigations of surface water quality, and links with biological integrity, elemental cycling of natural and anthropogenic materials, ecological restoration and ecological engineering.

Dr. Baxter Vieux
Distributed Hydrologic Modeling (Ma-M, Ma-A) . Models are greatly facilitated through the use of geographical information systems (GIS), e.g., digital elevation models; precipitation rates from NEXRAD images; and soil maps. Such models depend on accurate input data, and they need to be calibrated and verified with site-specific data, which would form the basis of several REU projects. In a related area, water quality from nonpoint sources of pollution can be studied by REU in conjunction with the work of Drs. Nairn, Strevett, and Kolar.

Dr. Musharraf Zaman
Recycled Pavement Materials (Ma-M, Ma-A) . Students will explore innovative ways for recycling of asphalt millings so as to minimize environmental impact and avoid disposal of such materials in landfills. Concurrently, REU students will look to enhance performance of structures made from recycled pavement materials (e.g., using additives such as Portland cement). Engineering properties of rejuvenated asphalt mixes, such as strength, permeability, and stability will be evaluated in the laboratory.

Time Line

The REU will last 8 weeks (June 4 to July 27), coinciding with OU's summer semester. To prepare students, reading material will be sent prior to arrival. This material will contain research objectives, literature related to their topic, descriptions of test procedures, and a detailed REU schedule. This schedule that has been fine-tuned over the last three summers so that it includes an appropriate balance of individual research, group meetings, field trips, and social activities (see the Table below).

SCHEDULE OF REU ACTIVITIES

Activities for the Week

Week 1
Opening "ceremonies," i.e., welcoming barbecue, introduction to the program and faculty, tour of labs and libraries, initial evaluations; 24-hour HAZWOPER training; Ethics seminar; Friday seminar on research design; meet with faculty mentors and graduate students to outline projects.

Week 2
Lectures on topics of general interest, e.g., solid waste management or environmental remediation; individual research and literature review; field trip to Tinker Air Force Base - aircraft maintenance with attention given to wastes, such as solvents, generated during the process, environmental monitoring lab, Superfund remediation site for NAPL spills in the subsurface below the maintenance depot; finalize research question with faculty mentor; present research plan at Friday seminar.

Week 3
Work on research; invited speaker from Oklahoma Conservation Commission, the USGS, or the Oklahoma Dept. of Environmental Quality, e.g., streambank restoration and erosion using principles of fluvial geomorphology; field trip to an operating landfill in Oklahoma City - contrast to closed Norman, OK landfill; Friday seminar on effective oral presentations.

Week 4
Work on research; student progress reports at Friday seminar; "field trip" to Lake Thunderbird for picnic, volleyball, and water skiing.

Week 5
Work on research; field trip to EPA Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center in Ada, OK - lab introduction from director, tour subsurface modeling and GIS center, tour analytical labs working on characterization and remediation of subsurface contamination, stop at Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Arbuckle Wilderness on return trip; Friday seminar on preparing technical reports; Fourth of July outing to Redhawks (OKC minor league baseball team) game and fireworks.

Week 6
Work on research; student progress reports and ethics discussion at Friday seminar.

Week 7
Begin to wrap up research; field trip to the National Severe Storms Lab in Norman, OK - introduction to the mission of the lab, tour facilities, discuss relation to hydrology and flood forecasting; Friday seminar on graduate school opportunities and career choices.

Week 8
Finalize research and prepare final oral reports (written reports to be submitted during the following semester) - reports will discuss ethical dimensions of their work; final presentations to all faculty and invited colleagues from local agencies, such as the USGS, DEQ, or EPA; end-of-summer picnic; post-project evaluations and interviews; clean up labs and work spaces.


Actual field trips in 2001 will be more broad-based; 1999 trips are shown.

Several features of the schedule are worth highlighting. First, the weekly Friday luncheon seminars have received enthusiastic support from the past REU students (based on evaluations), and it's not just for the good food! Alternating between faculty presentations on research issues and student progress reports allows students to learn from their mentors about research, writing, and oral presentations, and then practice what they learn in subsequent meetings. The seminars promote interactions outside research groups and thus allow students working on disparate projects a chance to get valuable input from their peers. It is also a good time for students and faculty to interact socially in an informal setting. Second, we thread an ethics component through the summer program. Third, the field trips are excellent social and learning activities. Students see first hand a variety of relevant projects, ranging from Superfund sites to operating landfills. Depending on the location of the field trip, the day often ends with a visit to a local recreational area, e.g., Turner Falls and Chickasaw National Recreation Area.