Dr. Scott Tyler, a hydrogeologist with joint appointments at the Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada, Reno, has been selected the 1999 Distinguished Darcy Lecturer by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA).

Tyler is a recently promoted professor of hydrology in UNR's Environmental & Resource Sciences Department and a research professor in DRI's Water Resources Center. In announcing his selection, the NGWA said Tyler "has continually invoked and developed sophisticated quantitative analyses, using a combination of both field and laboratory methods to resolve challenging hydrogeologic problems."

The Darcy Distinguished Lecture Series, highly regarded among ground water researchers, will take Tyler to 20 or more North American universities and research organizations during the next academic year sponsored by the host institutions and NGWA.

The lectureship also includes an international travel budget, and Tyler anticipates presenting lectures in Europe, South America and the Middle East. The lecture series will culminate with the keynote address at the NGWA annual meeting in November 1999.

Tyler's research focuses on the processes by which ground water interacts with and transports pollutants. He is involved in studies of the potential contamination of Lake Tahoe by ground water flowing into the lake, and in southern Nevada, how radionuclides--byproducts of past Nevada Test Site detonations--are transported down to the water table by water percolating down from the surface.

His studies have also examined the process by which salty water displaces fresh water in arid environments, an age-old problem that has tormented irrigation systems. Tyler recently served on a special National Academy of Sciences committee evaluating a proposed radioactive waste site in southern California.

Tyler is the second DRI/UNR faculty member to be selected for the lecture series and the first student of a Darcy lecturer from the same institution to be selected. His former doctoral advisor, Dr. Stephen Wheatcraft, was a Darcy lecturer in 1990 while on the faculty of DRI, and is now a professor and associate dean in the Mackay School of Mines at UNR. UNR will be the only U.S. university with two Darcy Lecturers on its faculty.

Tyler and Wheatcraft participate in UNR's hydrologic sciences graduate program, recently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News and World Reports.