The student will study and describe thin sections using a petrographic microscope. In addition, the student will sample carbonates and bulk sediment to analyze carbon and oxygen isotopes. The goal of the study is to 1) determine if carbonate samples retain original isotope signatures 2) develop a chemostratigraphic profile of the sampled sections, 3) determine clumped isotope values of screened samples.

To improve the water quality of Edwards Aquifer, a series of Low Impact Development (LID) structures has been implemented in the recharge and contributing zones of Edwards Aquifer in Bexar County, Texas. Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as retention/irrigation, extended detention basins, grassy swales, vegetative filter strips, bioretentions, sand filter systems, wet basins, and constructed wetlands are examples of permanent structural LID. The objective of this project is to investigate effectiveness and efficiencies of BMPs within the recharge and contributing zones of Edwards Aquifer in Bexar County.

Carbonate aquifers such as the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system are highly vulnerable to rapid ground-water contamination. The fundamental scientific goal of this research is to study what controls groundwater flow in different types of carbonate settings in the San Antonio segment of Edwards Aquifer. This research project aims to measure and simulate groundwater flow, contaminant transport, and to delineate groundwater basins in central Texas. Different tracers such as fluorescent dyes, stable isotopes, hydrograph, temperature, and ionic concentrations will be used to study surface water and groundwater interactions.

Speleothems (cave deposits) are recognized by scientists as well-preserved archives of information about past climate, vegetation, hydrology, and landscape evolution. They can be precisely dated in calendar years using U-series dating during the past 0.5 Ma. The primary objective of this research project is to assemble a calibrated, highly-resolved composite record of decadal- to centennial-scale climate change from the mid-latitudes of eastern North America that extends across the last four interglacial/glacial cycles. Students involved in this project will conduct stable isotope and trace metal analysis on speleothems collected from southern Appalachian caves.

The purpose of this study is to understand the timing and magnitude of climate changes that occurred on the west-central Yucatán peninsula and Belize during the time of the Mayan collapse. High-precision U-series dating techniques, stable isotope geochemistry, micro-X-Ray Fluorescence (µ-XRF) Spectrometry, and confocal microscopy techniques will be used to construct high-quality paleoclimate datasets spanning the Preclassic to Postclassic Mayan periods.

Hydrologic and carbon cycles are very important issues in karst areas. The proposed research activities include sampling and monitoring cave air and drip water, soil moisture and CO₂, and dissolved CO₂ in groundwater. CO₂ concentration, carbon isotope of CO₂, and stable isotope of water samples will be analyzed to examine how the karst system respond to vegetation and landscape changes, extreme weather conditions, and seasonal changes.

Edwards Aquifer is highly vulnerable to rapid ground-water contamination. Nitrate contamination is very common throughout the Edwards aquifer but the source of this contaminant is poorly understood. The objective of this research activity is to understand potential sources of nitrate in selected watersheds in south-central Texas by regular sampling and monitoring surface water and groundwater for stable and radiogenic isotope analysis and changes of water chemistry.

The objective of this research activity is to identify diffusive and fractured pathways of water infiltration through the epikarst zone from resistivity variance through time. Execute resistivity survey on top of selected caves in South-Central Texas region. Three sets of 48 electrode dipole-dipole array (1 – 2 m spacing) will be set up on top of caves and the electrodes will be left in place throughout the study period. Same electrode locations will be used in every survey and resistivity data will be collected every two weeks and after major recharge events. The data will be interpreted through pseudo sections and statistical analyses.

The objective of the research activity is to understand dynamics of sea ice and how sea ice respond to climate change. Geochemical analysis such as stable isotopes and water chemistry will be conducted on hundreds of sea ice samples.

The transportation infrastructure, such as roadways, serves a critical societal need to rapidly move goods and people across the nation. Using this infrastructure as a source of renewable energy by harvesting it from the roadway is a relatively novel idea that has not been fully explored yet. This project is aimed at exploring energy harvesting from the roadway infrastructure and harness it to generate electrical power. Millions of lane miles subjected to solar heat and vibrations, combined with repeated strains under normal working conditions, make the roadway a very good candidate for energy harvesting. This energy can be transformed using efficient systems into usable electrical power. In this project a group of civil, electric and mechanical students and faculty are working together to develop an energy harvesting system using Piezoelectric materials to transfer the mechanical energy in roadway to electric power. This power can be saved in roadside batteries for charging electric cars, and illuminating roadside or traffic lights. Students will engage in a new technology development research in a multidisciplinary field.

Roadways are one of the major civil infrastructure that play an important role in connecting communities via commerce and moving people and raising the economic impact of states and governments. However, with increasing numbers of cities, and as number of vehicles are sharply climbing, transportation networks are more congested, facing higher crash rate, and continuously aging and deteriorating in faster rate. There is a need to enable traffic management units, and motorists to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and smarter use of transportation infrastructure networks. This study is aimed at revolutionizing our vision towards building intelligent, sustainable and smart transportation infrastructure network. The goal of this study is to develop a Hybrid battery-less Sensing Module embedded in roadway layers for monitoring traffic and pavement conditions. Traffic data will be transferred wirelessly using bluetooth to a hub center for analysis and finally to motorists through connected vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network. Pavement data will also help state agency monitor layer conditions and make feasible strategy in roadway maintenance and repair.

Asphalt pavement are traditionally constructed from asphalt cement (or bitumen), which is a black binder produced from refining crude oil. With the unbalanced prices of crude oil globally, the lack of natural resources, and the negative impact of CO₂ emission from asphalt production, it is time to explore new material to substitute asphalt cement in building roadways. Asphalt roads have also strong impact in raising the climate temperature within city zones, a phenomena known as "heat urban island", contributing, to some extent, to global warming. This research exploring the use of light color liquid-based polymer for soil and crushed rocks stabilization. The research will greatly impact transportation and environment community in building sustainable asphalt-less light-colored roadways.

The catastrophic damage caused by recent storm events appears to suggest an increase in the frequency and magnitude of this type of extreme events, including super storms that, historically, have caused billions of dollars in damages and the loss of many human lives. Most critical infrastructure built in urban areas, including that for transportation and flood protection are designed to handle a design storm with a 1% probability of occurrence in one year or 100 years of return period. Super storms are defined here as rainfall storm events with return periods higher than 100 years and have occurred lately in the U.S. Just recently, the tropical storm Harvey broke all the rainfall records for the U.S. (more than 50 inches) and produced unprecedented flooding in the Eastern Texas, with a total damage estimation of $160 billion and at least 60 deaths. The impacts of storm events and the design of flood protection structures are typically assessed using hydrologic and hydraulic simulation models. Many of these models are one dimensional simplifications of complex drainage and riverine networks that simulate flow in these systems under steady flow conditions. The goal of this proposal is to develop of a computation framework that will: (1) assess the impact of super storm flooding on the transportation infrastructure, and (2) explore alternative flood protection structures that can minimize damages and maximize the resilience of transportation systems in large metropolitan areas.

A defining feature of modern Networked Dynamical Systems (NDS) is the prevalence of real-time sensing and actuation devices. The dynamic deployment of Sensors and Actuators (SaA)--actuators determining optimal control actions and sensors cherry-picking time-critical data--will lead to monumental socio-economic gains. The objective of the proposal is to create scientific methods that guide NDS stakeholders in the adaptive selection of the most reliable SaAs for topologically evolving uncertain NDSs. The uncertainty is due to potential data-attacks and SaA malfunctions. The investigated theory promises significant impacts on quality control of contamination-free Water Distribution Networks (WDN) equipped with high-tech mobile water SaAs. Given a topologically evolving, uncertain NDS, three fundamental questions are posed: (1) How can SaAs be selected in real-time? (2) How does the importance of SaAs vary with the evolution of NDS's topology? (3) How can infrastructures such as WDNs socio-economically benefit from active selection of SaAs? The objective of this project is to investigate answers to these questions, and unravel the impact of these answers on WDNs.

Identifying the types of sources that contribute to bacteria in water systems is key when developing strategies to reduce bacteria and other pollution levels in surface water and groundwater and when evaluating their potential impact on the environment. In a karst region where sources are not easily known or understood, microbial source tracking techniques can provide an opportunity to analyze water samples in a way that identifies the source of fecal bacteria in the sample, from simply identifying whether the source is human or non-human to, at times, identifying the source to the species level (e.g., cow, dog, deer). In this project, we will design and implement an efficient fecal source tracking and evaluation program for Edwards Aquifer, specifically identifying potential fecal sources such as municipal waste/runoff and animal waste as well as other contributing factors.

Hurricane Harvey has caused unprecedented damage to wastewater infrastructure in southeastern Texas, resulting in the release of sewage contamination into surface waters and the potential for widespread microbial pathogen exposure to humans. This project seeks to understand the potential for human exposure to pathogens and assess the extent of wastewater releases during Hurricane Harvey. Comparisons of transport and other factors measured during the study will be made with the objective of building a predictive framework for assessing wastewater contamination following severe flooding. The investigation will focus on smaller towns in southeast and lower central Texas rural locations to provide much needed and urgent data on the effects of sewage spillages on the water quality of smaller towns.

While the variety of metal-based nanoparticles used in consumer products continues to grow, the use of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) in electronics, textiles and food packaging industry has grown exponentially in recent years, which will inevitably result in their release into wastewater streams in turn impacting important biological processes in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Among these processes, nitrification plays a critical role in nitrogen removal during wastewater treatment, thus preventing eutrophication and ammonia toxicity to aquatic biota. The oxidation of ammonia-N to nitrite-N by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) is the first and most sensitive step in nitrification because AOB generally have low growth rates and are inhibited by many contaminants including ZnO-NP. Most inhibitory studies have used pure cultures and the current understanding of the mechanism of uptake and toxicity of ZnO-NP towards AOB is limited. The goal of this project is to describe mechanistic models of ZnO-NP interaction with AOB and understand how the nature (bulk versus nanoparticle) of ZnO affects the AOB communities typically present in activated sludge systems. Students involved in this project will learn various molecular and biochemical techniques in environmental engineering and will also learn the operation of bench-scale bioreactors for wastewater treatment.

To protect environmental water from human fecal contamination, authorities must be able to unambiguously identify the source of the contamination. Current identification methods focus on tracking fecal bacteria associated with the human gut, but many of these bacterial indicators also thrive in the environment and in other mammalian hosts. Mitochondrial DNA could solve this problem by serving as a human-specific marker for fecal contamination. In this project, we will target human mitochondrial DNA as a molecular fingerprint for human contamination in an urban watershed (San Antonio) impacted by sanitary sewer overflows. We will use field sampling, DNA extraction and high-throughput DNA sequencing for spatial resolution of the contaminated sites and assessment of the population diversity of the impacting regions.

Molecular assays (i.e., PCR and qPCR) used in microbial water quality studies often target ribosomal genes (rDNA). However, using DNA as the target molecule does not discriminate between active and dead cells. The use of RNA-based detection methods has recently been proposed as RNA is rather unstable outside of the cell and degrades much faster than DNA in non-active/dead cells. RNA studies can also take advantage of the higher number of rRNA copies in physiologically active cells. In this project, we will apply RNA-based methods as an alternate approach for the detection of active bacterial members of a microbial community. We will extend the approach to water samples collected from San Antonio River for identification of recent contamination events.

Changes in land use at the watershed scale can have severe impacts on aquatic organisms by modifying available habitat. A first step in predicting how organisms respond to changing land use is understanding their habitat preferences. The goal of this project is to survey the available habitat in a short river segment, determine whether organisms are preferentially choosing different habitat types, and determine which habitat components influence organism choice. Methodology will include habitat surveys and field sampling of aquatic organisms.

Urban development can fragment stream systems by imposing barriers to upstream movement of organisms and downstream movement of organisms, nutrients, and organic matter. Potential barriers include culverts, check dams, and road crossings. Fragmentation of rivers impedes organism movement and alters ecosystem processes such as nutrient processing, and can thus threaten population persistence of fish and other organisms. Identifying connectivity barriers is a first step to managing impacts. In this project, potential barriers will be mapped in small watersheds in the San Antonio region and classified as full or partial barriers to upstream and downstream connectivity. Mapping and classification will be accomplished through a combination of GIS analysis and field verification.

Hurricane Harvey was an exceptional storm event that exceeded all previously recorded storms over the continental US in terms of rainfall. Harvey's torrential rain pushed rivers and bayous in south Texas to record levels in some locations, and rivers and lakes in the region may take days, if not over a week, to return within their banks. Record flooding has been recorded at 19 different National Weather Service river forecast locations where the period of record extends to at least before 2000. Parts of south Texas had received more than 40 inches of rain, with at least one location – Cedar Bayou gauge near Highlands, Texas – setting a new continental U.S. rainfall record for any tropical cyclone with 51.88 inches as of 3 p.m. CDT, August 31st. Understanding this event will enable better storm frequency estimation and design of critical flood control structures that can handle such severe weather events. The objective of this project is to collect, document and analyze rainfall data from hurricane Harvey. Rainfall data will be obtained from weather radars and rain gauges in south Texas. The data will be processed and presented in visual and tabular formats that other students can use to perform frequency analysis and to force hydrologic models.

The San Antonio River Authority has designated multiple sites within a 5 km segment of the Mission's District of the San Antonio River for establishment of native aquatic macrophytes for invertebrate and fish habitat. Native aquatic macrophytes (n > 12 species) will be collected from rivers in the San Antonio area. The macrophytes will be mass propagated from apical tips and seeds in the UTSA greenhouse. Once the macrophytes become established in the greenhouse, the apical tips will be cut, bagged and taken to the San Antonio River for planting. Aquatic macrophyte apical tips (n = 20) will planted in 50 x 0.5 m2 plots in river sections with low and high water velocities. The objective of the study is to determine which species of macrophytes can be established in different water velocities. Monitoring of the plots will occur every three months and area coverage will be quantitatively measured. There are opportunities for undergraduates to develop ancillary projects such as competition studies among different species of macrophytes, water chemistry evaluations, and examining invertebrate and fish use of macrophytes. This is expected to be a 10 year project with the opportunity for students to continue and obtain a master's of science degree.

Lygodium japonicum is an introduced invasive climbing fern that is disrupting natural communities in the southeastern US by displacing native plant species and interrupting natural processes. The species has recently appeared in Europe on imported Bonsai plants. There is no information on the freeze tolerance of L. japonicum spores, gametophytes and sporophytes that could predict its range expansion in northern latitudes. This project will expose all life cycle stages of L. japonicum to varying freezing temperatures (0 to -10 °C) and exposure time periods of 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, 1 hr, 3 hrs, 6 hrs and 12 hrs to analyze germination and survival. The objective of the study is to determine the lethal temperatures of L. japonicum spores, gametophytes and sporophytes, and develop non-linear regression models to predict range expansions using current and future climate conditions. Research will be conducted in the lab (80%) and greenhouse (20%). There are opportunities for undergraduates to develop ancillary projects with the opportunity for students to continue and obtain a master's of science degree on the subject.

Membrane water treatment processes are playing an ever more important role to supply ample freshwater to the US from seawater and brackish groundwater resources. While much improvement has been made in membrane materials, membranes still foul and this fouling reduces the rate water is treated by the membrane. Fouling of membrane surfaces with natural organic matter can be especially problematic as chemical cleanings use with other foulants are only partially successful in restoring membrane performance when organically fouled. For this project, the use of powdered activated carbon, which is available as porous micron size particles, will be explored as an abrasive cleaning agent for removing organic material from membrane surfaces. This porous material has a very high affinity for adsorbing organic materials and thus may be an ideal cleaning agent to recover lost performance from RO membranes. For this project, the necessary amount of PAC required to clean the membrane will be determined. A laboratory membrane testing apparatus will be used to foul membrane surfaces, once fouled, the membranes will be fed a suspension of PAC and the membranes tested for recovered water treatment rates.

Agriculture is a major user of ground and surface water in the United States, accounting for approximately 80 percent of the Nation's consumptive water use and over 90 percent of usage in many Western States and not enough water is available to meet demands. A cost effective way to utilize salt water as an irrigation source is sorely needed to satisfy agriculture water use needs. Plant Roots are, in essence, renewable biological salt selective membrane systems and this study will examine whether pressurized roots can serve as a salt filtering system when using salt water for irrigation. For this project, water flow measurements are necessary to estimate the amount of water that can be delivered through plant roots to meet irrigation needs. Plant roots will be connected to syringe pumps filled with salt water brines. Water flow through the roots will be monitored along with pressures required to force the water through the plant roots. The water that permeates the plant roots will be analyzed for salt content by measuring permeate water conductivity. By measuring the rate and quality of water treated, the suitability of using plant roots as natural RO membranes can be determined in this study.

Inorganic contamination of surface water and groundwater supplies is an emerging environmental and public health concern. Metals can enter the water supply through the natural erosion of soil and rocks; however, the majority of metal pollution comes from anthropogenic sources such as industrial, agriculture, mining, e-waste, and military operations. Higher concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and As all pose potential health risks. This research studies two types of nanoparticle systems: 1) nano titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 2) nano titanium dioxide/molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (TiO₂/MoS₂) into zeolites and examine how these materials remove Pb, Cd, As, NO₃, PO₄, methyl orange and phenol from water using flow through column experiments. These materials have the potential to improve water quality through enhanced adsorption, selectivity, and kinetics; help with compliance of state and federal drinking water regulations; and reduce treatment costs.

One of the main causes of economic losses to the petroleum industry is metal corrosion caused by microbiological activity in addition for water treatment membrane fouling can occur to do microbes. There is inadequate understanding of the microbial species or mechanisms that influence microbial corrosion/biofilm production and even less on methods to detect or prevent it. The goal of this project is to perform quorum sensing pathways in order to develop applications to regulate biofilm formation.

Land use change and urbanization alters the natural flow regime of watersheds, impacting the environment and ecosystems. When the natural land cover is transformed to parking lots, rooftops, roads, and sidewalks, impervious covers decrease the natural infiltration rates and increase the runoff generation substantially. As urbanization increases so does the negative impacts of stormwater. Therefore, new research is needed to create sustainable urban water systems and management. In order to make these systems sustainable multi-faceted approaches are needed that incorporate technical, scientific, economic, social and environmental knowledge. This project focuses on implementing a LID test bed to assess the stormwater treatment of bioretentions and sand filter basins at The University of Texas at San Antonio main campus.

Currently, there is a lack of scientific understanding of the interactions of chemical contaminants to DOE facility materials which can affect the stability of the materials in turn affecting safety, in addition the materials themselves can be considered secondary waste and decontamination is necessary. Therefore, the overall goal of this project is to determine the physiochemical interactions of Hg and Cs to steel and concrete using spectroscopic analysis. The potential impacts of the proposed work could lead to cost-effective decontamination methods, minimize secondary waste, and reduce worker exposure.

Rapid geospatial mapping during natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, snow storms, blizzards, heat waves, and fires) as well as human-caused disasters (e.g., military conflicts and terrorist attacks) is extremely important for real-time emergency management. Rapid geospatial mapping can be used for (1) determining where to send first responders, (2) estimating the extent of the affected area and the type of relief needed, and (3) determining the speed and direction of a propagating disaster. Both natural and human-caused disasters that impact populated areas result in power outages and the associated night-light brightness decreases from cities, towns, industrial sites, and other human active sites.

We propose using individual images from the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) satellite sensor, especially daily night-time radiation (before, during, and after a disaster) of Day Night Band (0.7 µm) and M bands (0.865, 1.249, 4.05 µm). These data will allow us to continuously monitor the changes and to rapidly identify the most affected disaster areas (e.g., due to power outage, evacuation, and property/facility damage).

Two natural disasters: Hurricane Harvey in south Texas (August 2017) and the earthquake near Mexico City (magnitude 7.1, September 19, 2017) will be examined and two students are needed.

Eagle Ford Shale (EFS), one of the most productive shale oil and gas regions in the US has transformed the economies of the mostly rural communities it underlies as well as to the nearby cities such as San Antonio since 2008. However, fugitive hydrocarbon emissions from various sources during drilling, completion, and production, as well as gas flares lit to dispose of so-called associated gases, affect the air quality of the communities in the region. In particular, the rise in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — precursors to ground-level ozone formation — worry some local governments and communities. Here I propose two parallel studies (two students) to focus on the gas flare mapping and gas flare caused pollution:

1. to map the numbers of gas glares and changes since 2012 by using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the NASA NPP satellite
2. to map the potential pollution due to glaring since 1998 by using the Ozone Measurement Instrument (OMI) onboard the NASA Aura satellite

The students will be asked to do literature review on the EFS development, gas flaring status, and the principals of two remote sensing instruments and their applications. A one-day field trip to the EFS sites will be conducted to help students understanding the phenomenon and problems. The students will be trained to access/download the remote sensing data, process the data and retrieve needed information for data analysis and write reports. Outstanding results will be encouraged present in scientific conferences and even be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Antarctic sea ice thickness retrieval from remote sensing is still a challenging. This study will use laser altimetry and high resolution optical images both from air-borne missions in Antarctic to first classify lead and sea ice and then retrieve local sea level (elevation from leads) and total freeboard (by subtracting local sea level from ice elevation), and finally sea ice thickness (by using buoyancy equation and/or empirical equations). Data will be from IceBridge Mission and IcePod flights.

Sinkholes are closed depressions on land surface and serve as direct links between the surface and the underlying aquifers. Surface contamination can enter the aquifer system within days or even minutes in a karst terrain. An additional hazard associated with sinkholes is the danger of the catastrophic surface collapse. Within seconds or over a period of a few days, large sinkholes can develop and destroy surface structures. The primary goal of this project is to develop karst feature database and tools for resource management and hazard assessment using GIS and spatial analysis tools. High resolution LiDAR data are also available for sinkhole hazard assessment in selected karst regions.

Carbonate aquifers such as the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system are highly vulnerable to rapid ground-water contamination. The fundamental scientific goal of this research is to study what controls groundwater flow in different types of carbonate settings in the San Antonio segment of Edwards Aquifer. This research project aims to measure and simulate groundwater flow, contaminant transport, and to delineate groundwater basins in central Texas. Different tracers such as fluorescent dyes, stable isotopes, hydrograph, temperature, and ionic concentrations will be used to study surface water and groundwater interactions.

Speleothems (cave deposits) are recognized by scientists as well-preserved archives of information about past climate, vegetation, hydrology, and landscape evolution. They can be precisely dated in calendar years using U-series dating during the past 0.5 Ma. The primary objective of this research project is to assemble a calibrated, highly-resolved composite record of decadal- to centennial-scale climate change from the mid-latitudes of eastern North America that extends across the last four interglacial/glacial cycles. Students involved in this project will conduct stable isotope and trace metal analysis on speleothems collected from southern Appalachian caves.

The purpose of this study is to understand the timing and magnitude of climate changes that occurred on the west-central Yucatán peninsula and Belize during the time of the Mayan collapse. High-precision U-series dating techniques, stable isotope geochemistry, micro-X-Ray Fluorescence (µ-XRF) Spectrometry, and confocal microscopy techniques will be used to construct high-quality paleoclimate datasets spanning the Preclassic to Postclassic Mayan periods.

Hydrologic and carbon cycles are very important issues in karst areas. The proposed research activities include sampling and monitoring cave air and drip water, soil moisture and CO₂, and dissolved CO₂ in groundwater. CO₂ concentration, carbon isotope of CO₂, and stable isotope of water samples will be analyzed to examine how the karst system respond to vegetation and landscape changes, extreme weather conditions, and seasonal changes.

Edwards aquifer is highly vulnerable to rapid ground-water contamination. Nitrate contamination is very common throughout the Edwards aquifer but the source of this contaminant is poorly understood. The objective of this research activity is to understand potential sources of nitrate in selected watersheds in south-central Texas by regular sampling and monitoring surface water and groundwater for stable and radiogenic isotope analysis and changes of water chemistry.

With a goal of developing additional groundwater resources there is increased interest in investigating brackish-water zones. The working hypothesis of this study is that the brackish water occurs in a convergent mixing zone between (a) fresh meteoric groundwater moving downdip by gravitational drive to depth in the aquifer and (b) saline Edwards water driven updip from depths of more than 6000 ft by geopressured conditions. A third end member is poor-quality water moving upward into the Edwards Formation from the underlying Trinity Group. The goals of this study are to:

1. Develop additional insight on the origin and spatial variation in chemical composition of brackish water in the Edwards aquifer downdip of the bad-water line.
2. Predict whether a high transmissivity area might have developed in the Edwards aquifer within the brackish water zone owing to the mixing of fresh and saline water.
3. Map the volume of meteoric recharged Edwards water that has been lost into the brackish water zone and mixed with saline water moving updip in the Edwards Group.
4. Assess how much Edwards water might be lost from the aquifer by discharge vertically upward into overlying formations.

The objective of this research activity is to identify diffusive and fractured pathways of water infiltration through the epikarst zone from resistivity variance through time. Execute resistivity survey on top of selected caves in South-Central Texas region. Three sets of 48 electrode dipole-dipole array (1 – 2 m spacing) will be set up on top of caves and the electrodes will be left in place throughout the study period. Same electrode locations will be used in every survey and resistivity data will be collected every two weeks and after major recharge events. The data will be interpreted through pseudo sections and statistical analyses.

The objective of the research activity is to reconstruct paleoecology and ice age fauna from fossil bones in eastern North America. Stable isotope analysis will be conducted on fossil bones collected in selected cave sites in Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee.

Over 80% of lakes over Tibetan Plateau (TP) show area expansion since the 1970s. This expansion has been attributed to accelerated glacier/perennial snow cover melting and increased precipitation due to global warming. In contrast, many of these lakes in the TP had paleo-shorelines, indicating the lake levels dropped anywhere from 30m-200m in the geological history prior to the recent rise/expansion of a few meters since 1970. Well defined ages for paleo-shorelines are critical to constrain paleo-climate changes that caused such drastic lake level decrease/area shrinking. We propose to use optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and U-Th dating techniques, to obtain preliminary data and results. In addition, preliminary carbon and oxygen analyses of previously sampled lake materials will be used to provide insight on the climate changes that have occurred in these lakes.

The objective of the research activity is to understand dynamics of sea ice and how sea ice respond to climate change. Geochemical analysis such as stable isotopes and water chemistry will be conducted on hundreds of sea ice samples.

The primary data to be generated are, d¹³C and d¹⁸O of soil and lake carbonates. Specifically, the Yucca Formation of West Texas. The Yucca Formation has been constrained on the basis of charophyte biostratigraphy to the Aptian¹². This would mean that carbon isotope curves generated from this unit should be constrained to Aptian carbon isotope excursions especially those related to OAE 1a. Before significant work can be completed to determine paleoclimate proxies, a petrographic and stable isotope analysis of these carbonates to determine any diagenetic alteration is needed.

The transportation infrastructure, such as roadways, serves a critical societal need to rapidly move goods and people across the nation. Using this infrastructure as a source of renewable energy by harvesting it from the roadway is a relatively novel idea that has not been fully explored yet. This project is aimed at exploring energy harvesting from the roadway infrastructure and harness it to generate electrical power. Millions of lane miles subjected to solar heat and vibrations, combined with repeated strains under normal working conditions, make the roadway a very good candidate for energy harvesting. This energy can be transformed using efficient systems into usable electrical power. In this project a group of civil, electric and mechanical students and faculty are working together to develop an energy harvesting system using Piezoelectric materials to transfer the mechanical energy in roadway to electric power. This power can be saved in roadside batteries for charging electric cars, and illuminating roadside or traffic lights. Students will engage in a new technology development research in a multidisciplinary field.

Roadways are one of the major civil infrastructure that play an important role in connecting communities via commerce and moving people and raising the economic impact of states and governments. However, with increasing numbers of cities, and as number of vehicles are sharply climbing, transportation networks are more congested, facing higher crash rate, and continuously aging and deteriorating in faster rate. There is a need to enable traffic management units, and motorists to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and smarter use of transportation infrastructure networks. This study is aimed at revolutionizing our vision towards building intelligent, sustainable and smart transportation infrastructure network. The goal of this study is to develop a Hybrid battery-less Sensing Module embedded in roadway layers for monitoring traffic and pavement conditions. Traffic data will be transferred wirelessly using bluetooth to a hub center for analysis and finally to motorists through connected vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network. Pavement data will also help state agency monitor layer conditions and make feasible strategy in roadway maintenance and repair.

Asphalt pavement are traditionally constructed from asphalt cement (or bitumen), which is a black binder produced from refining crude oil. With the unbalanced prices of crude oil globally, the lack of natural resources, and the negative impact of CO₂ emission from asphalt production, it is time to explore new material to substitute asphalt cement in building roadways. Asphalt roads have also strong impact in raising the climate temperature within city zones, a phenomena known as "heat urban island," contributing, to some extent, to global warming. This research exploring the use of light color liquid-based polymer for soil and crushed rocks stabilization. The research will greatly impact transportation and environment community in building sustainable asphalt-less light-colored roadways.

Preliminary field evidence suggests that the petrology of the Mesoproterozoic Keese Monzonite varies significantly along its approximate 2 mile length. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this variation; (1) closed system fractionalization, and (2) open system magma mixing with the adjacent Enchanted Rock Batholith. To evaluate these hypotheses, samples will be collected from both the Keese Monzonite and Enchanted Rock intrusions and analyzed for major and trace elements. The chemical analysis results along with additional petrographic studies (using thin sections) will be used to identify trends supportive of or contradictory to each hypothesis. Mathematical models will be developed for each process and used to support the study and conclusions. The effort will be further supported by extensive field work to fully characterize the variations in rock type and structure.

Preliminary field studies of a recently discovered dike complex (Marschall Creek Dike Complex) suggest a spatial and petrogenetic relationship between the intermediate composition dikes and adjacent mafic enclaves. To further evaluate and identify the relationships, samples will be collected from the dikes, enclaves, and host granite (Enchanted Rock Batholith) and analyzed for major and trace elements. The chemical study will be supported by a petrographic analysis of the samples. Preliminary field work also shows a margin parallel flattening of the enclaves, suggesting ballooning in the host granite. This field work will be extended to include an analysis of foliation orientations in the host granite to further support or contradict the ballooning hypothesis.

When floods occur, the sediment on the riverbed is mobilized and moved downstream. aim of this project is to investigate this process. To address this aim, data from experiments will be used to understand when and how sediment moves during a flood.

Hillslope erosion is accelerated after wildfire because vegetation, surface runoff, and soil properties are modified. The aim of this project is to investigate the magnitude and grain size of soil eroded from a burned hillslope. To address this aim field samples collected using box traps embedded into a hillslope will be analyzed to determine how soil characteristics have changed over time.

While the variety of metal-based nanoparticles used in consumer products continues to grow, the use of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) in electronics, textiles and food packaging industry has grown exponentially in recent years, which will inevitably result in their release into wastewater streams in turn impacting important biological processes in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Among these processes, nitrification plays a critical role in nitrogen removal during wastewater treatment, thus preventing eutrophication and ammonia toxicity to aquatic biota. The oxidation of ammonia-N to nitrite-N by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) is the first and most sensitive step in nitrification because AOB generally have low growth rates and are inhibited by many contaminants including ZnO-NP. Most inhibitory studies have used pure cultures and the current understanding of the mechanism of uptake and toxicity of ZnO-NP towards AOB is limited. The goal of this project is to describe mechanistic models of ZnO-NP interaction with AOB and understand how the nature (bulk versus nanoparticle) of ZnO affects the AOB communities typically present in activated sludge systems. Students involved in this project will learn various molecular and biochemical techniques in environmental engineering and will also learn the operation of bench-scale bioreactors for wastewater treatment.

To protect environmental water from human fecal contamination, authorities must be able to unambiguously identify the source of the contamination. Current identification methods focus on tracking fecal bacteria associated with the human gut, but many of these bacterial indicators also thrive in the environment and in other mammalian hosts. Mitochondrial DNA could solve this problem by serving as a human-specific marker for fecal contamination. In this project, we will target human mitochondrial DNA as a molecular fingerprint for human contamination in an urban watershed (San Antonio) impacted by sanitary sewer overflows. We will use field sampling, DNA extraction and high-throughput DNA sequencing for spatial resolution of the contaminated sites and assessment of the population diversity of the impacting regions.

Molecular assays (i.e., PCR and qPCR) used in microbial water quality studies often target ribosomal genes (rDNA). However, using DNA as the target molecule does not discriminate between active and dead cells. The use of RNA-based detection methods has recently been proposed as RNA is rather unstable outside of the cell and degrades much faster than DNA in non-active/dead cells. RNA studies can also take advantage of the higher number of rRNA copies in physiologically active cells. In this project, we will apply RNA-based methods as an alternate approach for the detection of active bacterial members of a microbial community. We will extend the approach to water samples collected from San Antonio River for identification of recent contamination events.

This project will analyze fossil and living organisms to determine why they are distributed in certain ways through time and space. Research for a recent paper (Joachimski and Lambert, 2015) found that oxygen isotope ratios for various conodont species are all the same, which suggests they all lived in the same part of the water column. But conodonts are sorted into distinct biofacies, which suggests they lived in different water layers. Could their distribution have been controlled by prey species? Was the Late Paleozoic Midcontinent Seaway just very shallow? Are there other ways to explain the paradox? This project should appeal to students interested in fossils, paleoecology, and complex pattern recognition.

The analysis of conodont relationships by cladistic methods has only recently begun. Most studies have focused on higher-level taxa to understand major evolutionary relationships. This project will focus on species-level taxa to better understand population variation and dispersal patterns. This project should appeal to students interested in fossils, diversity, and computer-assisted analysis.

The analysis of conodont shapes by detailed measurements of particular features is a computer-intensive research program that emphasizes the importance of growth from juvenile to adult. The specimens to be studied will probably be named as new species. This project should appeal to detail-oriented students interested in fossils, diversity, and computer-assisted analysis.

Before fossils can be studied, matrix materials must be removed and the specimens prepared for analysis. This project will focus on getting ammonoid fossils out of rock and preparing them for study, and then doing basic statistical analyses of the specimens. This project should appeal to students that like to get covered in dust and dirt, like to work with their hands and simple machines, and that are patient enough to work fossils out of harder rocks.

In 2011 Texas experienced the driest year in its recorded history. But 2015 was the wettest year on record with May 2015 the wettest month ever. Overall, the year 2015 broke the annual record (43% above the mean) and monthly records for May and October. Most of the state witnessed above-average rainfall most of the year. Exception were small areas in the far west of Texas. This research will examine the spatial and temporal rainfall patterns in Texas for the year 2015. The study will compare the monthly and annual data of 2015 to the historical means, minimums, maximums, and percentiles for all rain gauges or weather radar data across Bexar County.

Autonomous underwater gliders are becoming increasingly popular for collecting oceanographic field observations because of their significantly lower operating costs compared to traditional ship surveys. In this project, the students will explore publically available software for data visualization and analysis of underwater glider observations written in MATLAB. This work will be of interest to students that wish to develop computer programming skills for scientific applications.

Studying cross-shelf flows in the coastal ocean are important because they are responsible for the exchange of contaminants between the coast and the deep sea. Over two years of current meter observations along with other environmental variables that were gathered during a field experiment in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico have recently been made public. The goal of this project is to download and analyze this dataset to characterize the cross-shelf flows in that region.

Problem Statement: Asphalt concrete (AC) paved surfaces, due to their dark color and heat characteristics, act as heat sinks during hot weather. This stored heat radiates throughout the day and results in elevated ambient temperatures contributing to the "heat island" (HI) effects in urban areas (www.epa.gov/heat-islands).
Objective: Mitigate the thermal effect of AC paved surfaces by incorporating materials with lower thermal conductivity and thermal capacity coefficients, without compromising strength and durability.
Feasibility Study: Test the mechanical and thermal properties of ACs incorporating polymers as a means of improving their thermal properties.

Inorganic contamination of surface water and groundwater supplies is an emerging environmental and public health concern. Metals can enter the water supply through the natural erosion of soil and rocks; however, the majority of metal pollution comes from anthropogenic sources such as industrial, agriculture, mining, e-waste, and military operations. Higher concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and As all pose potential health risks. This research studies two types of nanoparticle systems: 1) nano titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 2) nano titanium dioxide/molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (TiO₂/MoS₂) into zeolites and examine how these materials remove Pb, Cd, As, NO₃, PO₄, methyl orange and phenol from water using flow through column experiments. These materials have the potential to improve water quality through enhanced adsorption, selectivity, and kinetics; help with compliance of state and federal drinking water regulations; and reduce treatment costs.

One of the main causes of economic losses to the petroleum industry is metal corrosion caused by microbiological activity in addition for water treatment membrane fouling can occur to do microbes. There is inadequate understanding of the microbial species or mechanisms that influence microbial corrosion/biofilm production and even less on methods to detect or prevent it. The goal of this project is to perform quorum sensing pathways in order to develop applications to regulate biofilm formation.

Land use change and urbanization alters the natural flow regime of watersheds, impacting the environment and ecosystems. When the natural land cover is transformed to parking lots, rooftops, roads, and sidewalks, impervious covers decrease the natural infiltration rates and increase the runoff generation substantially. As urbanization increases so does the negative impacts of stormwater. Therefore, new research is needed to create sustainable urban water systems and management. In order to make these systems sustainable multi-faceted approaches are needed that incorporate technical, scientific, economic, social and environmental knowledge. This projects focuses on the technical, scientific, and environmental knowledge that is needed to create sustainable systems for stormwater management specifically looking at the water quality and treatment of urban runoff.

This project is to provide a research experience for undergraduate students in rainfall research. As part of this project, student(s) will collect and analyze rainfall data, including unique data for raindrops that have become available only recently through a new technology that Dr. Testik developed. Experiments will be conducted at an on-campus site that will be equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. Analysis of the data will be conducted using various software including those that are developed by the Dr. Testik's research group. This project will accommodate up to 2 undergraduate students for 2 regular semesters and a summer semester. Undergraduate student(s) from various engineering and science disciplines, particularly from Civil Engineering, Geology, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics Departments, will be recruited.

Main objectives and expected outcomes of this project are in two-folds:

1. Educational: The primary educational objective of this project is to contribute in enhancing student learning and inspiration via an educational research experience. Proposed research will create a leading-edge hands-on research environment for undergraduate students to work side by side with graduate students and Dr. Testik. This project will be aligned with the educational objectives of an NSF project that Dr. Testik has been leading.
2. Research: Rainfall data will be collected to investigate various rainfall characteristics, distribution of raindrop sizes, raindrop shape and fall velocity. Students will be actively involved in the field experiments under the guidance of a PhD student and Dr. Testik. Conference and journal publications will be aimed as the project outcomes.

As part of this project, the students will conduct various specific tasks including literature review, establishment of the field site, field measurements, data analysis, technical reporting, and others. Student posters and presentations in regional conferences based on research results will be encouraged and is aimed.

This project is to provide a research experience for undergraduate students in coastal research, in particular density-driven currents that are commonly observed in the coastal regions. Some examples of these flows are turbidity currents, oil slicks, and flows of disposed dredged materials. As part of this project, student(s) will conduct laboratory experiments in our flume located in AET building and analyze the collected data to evaluate available theoretical models for this types of flows that are developed by Dr. Testik and other researchers in the field. Analysis of the data will be conducted using various software including those that are developed by Dr. Testik's research group. This project will accommodate up to 2 undergraduate students for 2 regular semesters and a summer semester. Undergraduate student(s) from various engineering and science disciplines, particularly from Civil Engineering, Geology, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics Departments, will be recruited.

Main objectives and expected outcomes of this project are in two-folds:

1. Educational: The primary educational objective of this project is to contribute in enhancing student learning and inspiration via an educational research experience. Proposed research will create a leading-edge hands-on research environment for undergraduate students to work side by side with graduate students and Dr. Testik.
2. Research: Laboratory data will be collected to investigate various characteristics of gravity currents, including front propagation, anatomy of the currents, and entrainment and dilution of the currents. Students will be responsible for the laboratory experiments under the guidance of a PhD student and Dr. Testik. Conference and journal publications will be aimed as the project outcomes.

As part of this project, the students will conduct various specific tasks including literature review, laboratory measurements, data analysis, technical reporting, and others. Student posters and presentations in regional conferences based on research results will be encouraged and is aimed.

Eagle Ford Shale (EFS), one of the most productive shale oil and gas regions in the US has transformed the economies of the mostly rural communities it underlies as well as to the nearby cities such as San Antonio since 2008. However, fugitive hydrocarbon emissions from various sources during drilling, completion, and production, as well as gas flares lit to dispose of so-called associated gases, affect the air quality of the communities in the region. In particular, the rise in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — precursors to ground-level ozone formation — worry some local governments and communities. Here I propose two parallel studies (two students) to focus on the gas flare mapping and gas flare caused pollution:

1. to map the numbers of gas glares and changes since 2012 by using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the NASA NPP satellite
2. to map the potential pollution due to glaring since 1998 by using the Ozone Measurement Instrument (OMI) onboard the NASA Aura satellite

The students will be asked to do literature review on the EFS development, gas flaring status, and the principals of two remote sensing instruments and their applications. A one-day field trip to the EFS sites will be conducted to help students understanding the phenomenon and problems. The students will be trained to access/download the remote sensing data, process the data and retrieve needed information for data analysis and write reports. Outstanding results will be encouraged present in scientific conferences and even be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Antarctic sea ice thickness retrieval from remote sensing is still a challenging. This study will use laser altimetry and high resolution optical images both from air-borne missions in Antarctic to first classify lead and sea ice and then retrieve local sea level (elevation from leads) and total freeboard (by subtracting local sea level from ice elevation), and finally sea ice thickness (by using buoyancy equation and/or empirical equations). Data will be from IceBridge Mission and IcePod flights.

During the sea ice growth season in October 2015, we obtained shipboard photographs of newly forming sea ice during several wave events from an automatic camera mounted on the icebreaking vessel. The result is called pancake ice after the shape and sizes of the ice forms. The camera system captured digital images of the growing ice and the research project will be to analyze these photographs to obtain the diameters of the growing pancakes. Software programs will be used to orthorectify the photos, or provide a "birds-eye" view of the photos obtained at an oblique angle from the camera mount on the ship's rail on an upper deck. These corrected photographs will then be analyzed to give statistics on the sizes or develop a floe size distribution from which mean, median, and standard deviations of diameters can be derived. Theory and laboratory experiments previously conducted will be compared to these pancake floe sizes as a function of the wavelength and amplitude of the wave fields, properties which were also measured during the field experiment. The occurrence of pancake ice in the ice growth season in the Arctic Ocean has not been previously observed and is important to understand the new conditions under which it occurs, as it will impact the modeling of the Arctic ice cover under climate change for future predictions.

The objective of the research activity is to understand dynamics of sea ice and how sea ice respond to climate change. Geochemical analysis such as stable isotopes and water chemistry will be conducted on several hundred sea ice samples collected during the Arctic expedition in fall 2015.

Speleothems (cave deposits) are recognized by scientists as well-preserved archives of information about past climate, vegetation, hydrology, and landscape evolution. They can be precisely dated in calendar years using U-series dating during the past 0.5 Ma. The primary objective of this research project is to assemble a calibrated, highly-resolved composite record of decadal- to centennial-scale climate change from the mid-latitudes of eastern North America that extends across the last four interglacial/glacial cycles. Students involved in this project will conduct stable isotope and trace metal analysis on speleothems collected from southern Appalachian caves.

The purpose of this study is to understand the timing and magnitude of climate changes that occurred on the west-central Yucatán peninsula and Belize during the time of the Mayan collapse. High-precision U-series dating techniques, stable isotope geochemistry, micro-X-Ray Fluorescence (µ-XRF) Spectrometry, and confocal microscopy techniques will be used to construct high-quality paleoclimate datasets spanning the Preclassic to Postclassic Mayan periods.

Hydrologic and carbon cycles are very important issues in karst areas. The proposed research activities include sampling and monitoring cave air and drip water, soil moisture and CO₂, and dissolved CO₂ in groundwater. CO₂ concentration, carbon isotope of CO₂, and stable isotope of water samples will be analyzed to examine how the karst system respond to vegetation and landscape changes, extreme weather conditions, and seasonal changes.

The transportation infrastructure, such as roadways, serves a critical societal need to rapidly move goods and people across the nation. Using this infrastructure as a source of renewable energy by harvesting it from the roadway is a relatively novel idea that has not been fully explored yet. This project is aimed at exploring energy harvesting from the roadway infrastructure and harness it to generate electrical power. Millions of lane miles subjected to solar heat and vibrations, combined with repeated strains under normal working conditions, make the roadway a very good candidate for energy harvesting. This energy can be transformed using efficient systems into usable electrical power. In this project a group of civil, electric and mechanical students and faculty are working together to develop an energy harvesting system using Piezoelectric materials to transfer the mechanical energy in roadway to electric power. This power can be saved in roadside batteries for charging electric cars, and illuminating roadside or traffic lights. Students will engage in a new technology development research in a multidisciplinary field.

Roadways are one of the major civil infrastructure that play an important role in connecting communities via commerce and moving people and raising the economic impact of states and governments. However, with increasing numbers of cities, and as number of vehicles are sharply climbing, transportation networks are more congested, facing higher crash rate, and continuously aging and deteriorating in faster rate. There is a need to enable traffic management units, and motorists to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and smarter use of transportation infrastructure networks. This study is aimed at revolutionizing our vision towards building intelligent, sustainable and smart transportation infrastructure network. The goal of this study is to develop a Hybrid battery-less Sensing Module embedded in roadway layers for monitoring traffic and pavement conditions. Traffic data will be transferred wirelessly using bluetooth to a hub center for analysis and finally to motorists through connected vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network. Pavement data will also help state agency monitor layer conditions and make feasible strategy in roadway maintenance and repair.

Asphalt pavement are traditionally constructed from asphalt cement (or bitumen), which is a black binder produced from refining crude oil. With the unbalanced prices of crude oil globally, the lack of natural resources, and the negative impact of CO₂ emission from asphalt production, it is time to explore new material to substitute asphalt cement in building roadways. Asphalt roads have also strong impact in raising the climate temperature within city zones, a phenomena known as "heat urban island", contributing, to some extent, to global warming. This research exploring the use of light color liquid-based polymer for soil and crushed rocks stabilization. The research will greatly impact transportation and environment community in building sustainable asphalt-less light-colored roadways.

Sinkholes are closed depressions on land surface and serve as direct links between the surface and the underlying aquifers. Surface contamination can enter the aquifer system within days or even minutes in a karst terrain. An additional hazard associated with sinkholes is the danger of the catastrophic surface collapse. Within seconds or over a period of a few days, large sinkholes can develop and destroy surface structures. The primary goal of this project is to develop karst feature database and tools for resource management and hazard assessment using GIS and spatial analysis tools. High resolution LiDAR data are also available for sinkhole hazard assessment in selected karst regions.

Carbonate aquifers such as the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system are highly vulnerable to rapid ground-water contamination. The fundamental scientific goal of this research is to study what controls groundwater flow in different types of carbonate settings in the San Antonio segment of Edwards Aquifer. This research project aims to measure and simulate groundwater flow, contaminant transport, and to delineate groundwater basins in central Texas. Different tracers such as fluorescent dyes, stable isotopes, hydrograph, temperature, and ionic concentrations will be used to study surface water and groundwater interactions.

The objective of the research activity is to understand CO₂ responses in the soil zones and compare them with recharge events and CO₂ changes in subsurface caves. Measure soil gas flux and levels of soil moisture above selected caves using a LI-8100A Automated Soil Gas Flux System and a field vis-NIR spectroscopy device every two weeks and after major recharge events.

The sedimentary cover in the Alta Veracruz of central Guatemala consists of Permian deposits uncomfortably overlain by Jurassic to lower Cretaceous continental deposits. The following, thick limestones succession is dated to the Cretaceous (lower Ixcoy and upper Coban formations), without any further precision (Walper, 1960). The aim of this project is to refine the age of the lower Ixcoy and upper Coban formations by means of chemostratigraphic correlation applied to a set of samples previously brought back from Guatemala. We will need two students (1) to process samples (rock cutting and slab polishing; PI Godet), microsample their micritic part and (2) to analyze this powder with an Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS; Laboratory of Stable Isotope, PI Suarez) to obtain the carbon and oxygen stable isotope composition of the samples. The results will be compared to reference curves obtained from sections which age is controlled by biostratigraphy, in order to infer a better age model for sediments of the Los Chorros section.

Hillslope erosion is accelerated after wildfire because vegetation, surface runoff, and soil properties are modified. The aim of this project is to investigate the magnitude and grain size of soil eroded from a burned hillslope. To address this aim field samples collected using box traps embedded into a hillslope will be analyzed to determine how soil characteristics have changed over time.

The coarser portion of streambed sediment controls the stability of river channels. The aim of this project is to investigate the content and mobility of gravel sized material in the San Antonio River. To address this aim, field samples will be collected from different locations in the river and analyzed to describe a range of gravel characteristics that will improve the understanding of gravel mobility.

Bank erosion is a key process in the lateral shifting of river channels. The aim of this project is to investigate the characteristics of riverbanks and estimate the potential for erosion. To address this aim, field samples will be collected from different locations in the San Antonio River and analyzed to quantify two metrics that describe relative bank instability.

Cement and lime have been used to create cementation among soil particles to improve its properties such as strength and stiffness. However, the production of cement and lime is energy intensive and releases significant green house gas – CO₂. This study explores the possibility of utilizing the lignin waste from bio-fuel and paper pulping industry to create bonding between soil particles to improve the soils' properties. The proposed project, serving as proof-of-concept study, is an interdisciplinary study, involving geotechnical, structural, and material engineering, and chemistry. We propose to undertake the project in two major steps: (1) investigating the chemical reaction of lignin to find out the optimal chemical reaction conditions; and (2) scrutinizing the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the stabilized soils. Different amounts of lignin will be mixed with soil and then cured in different controlled environments (such as temperature, moisture, etc.) in the lab. Then the cured samples will be tested for their mechanical and hydraulic properties for both soaked and unsoaked situations. In summary, the objective of this project is to verify the chemical and engineering feasibility of the proposed idea. The bio-fuel and paper pulping industry in the US produces a large amount of lignin annually as waste that have been either burnt or sent to landfill with an estimated amount exceeding 30 million ton each year. If successful completed, this project will possible lead to a new, environment-friend soil stabilizer.

Membrane desalination facilities have waste concentrate residuals on the order of 10–30% of plant flows. As such, these waste residuals represent a significant disposal problem. Concentrate volumes requiring disposal are the largest waste stream from all water treatment processes and viable solutions are necessary to handle concentrate waste in a cost effective manner. Waste concentrate residuals from inland brackish water desalination processes are especially problematic. Due to the lack of saline receiving waters, disposal to surface waters is not viable outside of coastal areas. Furthermore, because inland brackish water concentrates contain high concentrations of divalent cations, scaling and fouling issues arise when these residuals are processed for disposal.

This project will explore the viability of using chemical softening to treat brackish reverse osmosis (RO) brines. Brines leaving the RO process are already near solubility limits, for gypsum (CaSO₄) and calcite (CaCO₃). These species represent raw material mineral resources that can be used for making drywall, pavements and a variety of other useful products. However, for this to be viable, the chloride content must be low when these minerals are recovered from RO brines as chlorides causes corrosion issues in many applications.

Chemical lime-soda softening of a San Antonio brine will be conducted using standard jar test apparatus housed within the Civil & Environmental Engineering laboratories. This will yield softened brines for testing purposes. Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ hardness will be determined using EDTA titration methods. These residuals will be analyzed for water content by gravimetric methods. Chloride content will be determined from mass balances and measured brine chloride content as determined using chloride ion selective electrodes.

Prior course work in chemistry is required for this project but prior knowledge of water softening is not necessary to be considered for this project if the student is willing and eager to learn.

Agriculture is a major user of ground and surface water in the United States, accounting for approximately 80 percent of the Nation's consumptive water use and over 90 percent of usage in many Western States. Water use in the US is increasing every year, yet nearly every region of the country has experienced at least temporary water shortages in recent years. The current archetype for addressing water shortages within irrigated agriculture focuses upon increasing irrigation efficiencies and/or developing alternative water sources such as brackish groundwater. These efforts are currently failing due to cost and technological limitations of conventional systems.

Plant Roots are, in essence, renewable biological salt selective membrane systems and this study will examine whether pressurized roots can serve as a salt filtering system when using brackish water for irrigation. For this project, water flow measurements are necessary to estimate the amount of water that can be delivered through plant roots to meet irrigation needs. Plant roots will be connected to syringe pumps filled with salt water brines. Water flow through the roots will be monitored along with pressures required to force the water through the plant roots. The water that permeates the plant roots will be analyzed for salt content by measuring permeate water conductivity.

Prior course work in chemistry is required for this project but prior knowledge of plant root structures and membrane separation processes are not necessary to be considered for this project. However, the student must be willing and eager to learn on the job the background subject matter necessary for successful project completion.

This project will analyze whether various forms of micro-ornamentation on conodont fossils are adapted to particular paleoenvironments, and to what degree their distribution is controlled by evolutionary relationships. This project should appeal to students interested in fossils, paleoecology, and complex pattern recognition.

The analysis of conodont relationships by cladistic methods has only recently begun. Most studies have focused on higher-level taxa to understand major evolutionary relationships. This project will focus on species-level taxa to better understand population variation and dispersal patterns. This project should appeal to students interested in fossils, diversity, and computer-assisted analysis.

Before fossils can be studied, matrix materials must be removed and the specimens prepared for analysis. This project will focus on getting ammonoid fossils out of rock and preparing them for study, and then doing basic statistical analyses of the specimens. This project should appeal to students that like to get covered in dust and dirt, like to work with their hands and simple machines, and that are patient enough to work fossils out of harder rocks.

Transportation safety research is concerned with understating not only the factors that cause crashes but also the factors that influence crash severity. There are numerous diver-related, vehicle-related, road-related, and environment related factors that affect crash incidence and severity. As such, application of big data analytics and data mining techniques on large amounts of crash data is one of the few robust method to identify these factors. Understanding how traffic crashes are impacted by rain is critical to road safety planning and management. This study will assess the impact of rain on traffic safety by conducting an analysis of the fatal crashes caused by rain in Texas from 2011 to 2015. The Texas crash data were gathered from different sources and organized in a spreadsheet format. Simple regression will be used to identify the dominant factors associated with rain-related crashes. These rain-related crashes have to be categorized and examined at the state and county levels. Variables to be considered will also include month, time, and roadway surface condition.

The identification of seasonal and annual trends in precipitation and streamflow volumes at the regional scale contributes to the understanding of global climate change and variation, and is essential to the development of hydrologic models, hydrologic forecasting, and water resources planning and management for basins. This study will examines such trends over the past 20 years (1995-2015) for Texas Using radar rainfall estimates. Trends and correlations will be estimated at different spatial scales.

Inorganic contamination of surface water and groundwater supplies is an emerging environmental and public health concern. Metals can enter the water supply through the natural erosion of soil and rocks; however, the majority of metal pollution comes from anthropogenic sources such as industrial, agriculture, mining, e-waste, and military operations. Higher concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and As all pose potential health risks. This research studies two types of nanoparticle systems: 1) nano titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 2) nano titanium dioxide/molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (TiO₂/MoS₂) into zeolites and examine how these materials remove Pb, Cd, As, NO₃, PO₄, methyl orange and phenol from water using flow through column experiments. These materials have the potential to improve water quality through enhanced adsorption, selectivity, and kinetics; help with compliance of state and federal drinking water regulations; and reduce treatment costs.

Land use change and urbanization alters the natural flow regime of watersheds, impacting the environment and ecosystems. When the natural land cover is transformed to parking lots, rooftops, roads, and sidewalks, impervious covers decrease the natural infiltration rates and increase the runoff generation substantially. As urbanization increases so does the negative impacts of stormwater. Therefore, new research is needed to create sustainable urban water systems and management. In order to make these systems sustainable multi-faceted approaches are needed that incorporate technical, scientific, economic, social and environmental knowledge. This projects focuses on the technical, scientific, and environmental knowledge that is needed to create sustainable systems for stormwater management specifically looking at the water quality and treatment of urban runoff.

The objective of the research activity is to reconstruct paleoecology and ice age fauna from fossil bones in eastern North America. Stable isotope analysis will be conducted on fossil bones collected in selected cave sites in Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee.

This project is to provide a research experience for undergraduate students in rainfall research. As part of this project, student(s) will collect and analyze rainfall data, including unique data for raindrops that have become available only recently through a new technology that Dr. Testik developed. Experiments will be conducted at an on-campus site that will be equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. Analysis of the data will be conducted using various software including those that are developed by the Dr. Testik's research group. This project will accommodate up to 2 undergraduate students for 2 regular semesters and a summer semester. Undergraduate student(s) from various engineering and science disciplines, particularly from Civil Engineering, Geology, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics Departments, will be recruited.

Main objectives and expected outcomes of this project are in two-folds:

1. Educational: The primary educational objective of this project is to contribute in enhancing student learning and inspiration via an educational research experience. Proposed research will create a leading-edge hands-on research environment for undergraduate students to work side by side with graduate students and Dr. Testik. This project will be aligned with the educational objectives of an NSF project that Dr. Testik has been leading.
2. Research: Rainfall data will be collected to investigate various rainfall characteristics, distribution of raindrop sizes, raindrop shape and fall velocity. Students will be actively involved in the field experiments under the guidance of a PhD student and Dr. Testik. Conference and journal publications will be aimed as the project outcomes.

As part of this project, the students will conduct various specific tasks including literature review, establishment of the field site, field measurements, data analysis, technical reporting, and others. Student posters and presentations in regional conferences based on research results will be encouraged and is aimed.

This project is to provide a research experience for undergraduate students in coastal research, in particular density-driven currents that are commonly observed in the coastal regions. Some examples of these flows are turbidity currents, oil slicks, and flows of disposed dredged materials. As part of this project, student(s) will conduct laboratory experiments in our flume located in AET building and analyze the collected data to evaluate available theoretical models for this types of flows that are developed by Dr. Testik and other researchers in the field. Analysis of the data will be conducted using various software including those that are developed by Dr. Testik's research group. This project will accommodate up to 2 undergraduate students for 2 regular semesters and a summer semester. Undergraduate student(s) from various engineering and science disciplines, particularly from Civil Engineering, Geology, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics Departments, will be recruited.

Main objectives and expected outcomes of this project are in two-folds:

1. Educational: The primary educational objective of this project is to contribute in enhancing student learning and inspiration via an educational research experience. Proposed research will create a leading-edge hands-on research environment for undergraduate students to work side by side with graduate students and Dr. Testik.
2. Research: Laboratory data will be collected to investigate various characteristics of gravity currents, including front propagation, anatomy of the currents, and entrainment and dilution of the currents. Students will be responsible for the laboratory experiments under the guidance of a PhD student and Dr. Testik. Conference and journal publications will be aimed as the project outcomes.

As part of this project, the students will conduct various specific tasks including literature review, laboratory measurements, data analysis, technical reporting, and others. Student posters and presentations in regional conferences based on research results will be encouraged and is aimed.

One of the last remaining tropical glaciers in the northern hemisphere is in south central Mexico on the high altitude volcanic slopes of Pico de Orizaba, the third highest peak in N. America. Ongoing research conducted at UTSA has involved geophysical mapping of ice thickness and the collection of meteorological information at various stations. The objective of the effort is to see what is driving ice loss on the glacier given the current environment of climate change. This MORESE project will focus on building a climatology of the glacier environment from historical and contemporary data records of temperature and precipitation, from in situ and remote sensing sources. There may be an opportunity for the student to participate in a summer expedition to the glacier to collect data.

The objective of this research activity is to identify diffusive and fractured pathways of water infiltration through the epikarst zone from resistivity variance through time. Execute resistivity survey on top of selected caves in South-Central Texas region. Three sets of 48 electrode dipole-dipole array (1–2 m spacing) will be set up on top of caves and the electrodes will be left in place throughout the study period. Same electrode locations will be used in every survey and resistivity data will be collected every two weeks and after major recharge events. The data will be interpreted through pseudo sections and statistical analyses.

Eagle Ford Shale (EFS), one of the most productive shale oil and gas regions in the US has transformed the economies of the mostly rural communities it underlies as well as to the nearby cities such as San Antonio since 2008. However, fugitive hydrocarbon emissions from various sources during drilling, completion, and production, as well as gas flares lit to dispose of so-called associated gases, affect the air quality of the communities in the region. In particular, the rise in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — precursors to ground-level ozone formation —worry some local governments and communities. Here I propose two parallel studies (two students) to focus on the gas flare mapping and gas flare caused pollution:

1. to map the numbers of gas glares and changes since 2012 by using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the NASA NPP satellite
2. to map the potential pollution due to glaring since 1998 by using the Ozone Measurement Instrument (OMI) onboard the NASA Aura satellite

The students will be asked to do literature review on the EFS development, gas flaring status, and the principals of two remote sensing instruments and their applications. A one-day field trip to the EFS sites will be conducted to help students understanding the phenomenon and problems. The students will be trained to access/download the remote sensing data, process the data and retrieve needed information for data analysis and write reports. Outstanding results will be encouraged present in scientific conferences and even be published in peer-reviewed journals.

During the sea ice growth season in October 2015, we obtained shipboard data from optical and thermal cameras, EM31, and Lidar. In the same time, a lot of satellite-based data were simultaneously collected with the field work. This project will take a first look on some of data to examine the usefulness of the field-collected data and the mechanism and processes of sea ice advancing and formation.