Dr. Cliff Voss, the 2015 Geological Society of America’s Birdsall-Dreiss Lecturer, visited Syracuse University on October 21. Dr. Voss is a senior scientist with the National Research Program of the U.S. Geological Survey and an internationally recognized expert in groundwater modeling.

During his time on campus, Dr. Voss met with Earth Sciences and Engineering faculty and graduate students. His visit culminated with his presentation entitled “Informing Management of the World’s Largest Groundwater Systems with Simply-Structured Model Analysis.” In his seminar, Voss reviewed the typical difficulties in characterizing aquifer systems and argued that simply-structured models are the most effective means of dealing with inevitable uncertainties. Using examples from Bangladesh and the Nubian aquifer in North Africa, Voss showed how simple models can answer water-management challenges in large aquifer systems.