Michael Young
Hartwick College B.A. Geology ’83, Ohio University M.S. Geology ’86, University of Arizona Ph.D. Soil and Water Sciences '95
I earned a B.A. in Geology from Hartwick College in 1983, an M.S. in Geological Sciences (specializing in hydrogeology) from Ohio University, and a Ph.D. in Soil and Water Science (specializing in soil physics and hydrology) from the University of Arizona. I am a licensed geoscientist in Texas, Virginia, and Arizona.
I have been a full-time researcher in various locations since 1995 when I earned my Ph.D. I was a post-doc Fellow at Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta for a couple of years, then moved to Las Vegas and became a research professor at the Desert Research Institute, focusing mostly on the soil physics and hydrology of desert ecosystems for 10 years. During the end of my time there, I was Acting Executive Director of Hydrologic Sciences, coordinating research and administration for a division of 80 researchers. I moved to Texas in 2010 and became Associate Director for Environmental Research and Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin. In this capacity, I coordinated environmental research programs for a group of about 60 researchers, post-docs, and students involved in a wide variety of environmental geosciences research spanning induced seismicity, energy/water issues, geological sequestration of CO2, groundwater recharge processes, water quality and resources, coastal processes and geological mapping. My research interests and experiences include water/energy nexus; water and land impacts from energy development; arid system ecohydrology; and the connection between water resources, landscape development, and human interactions. In 2023, I was named Associate Dean for Research for the Jackson School of Geosciences, one of the largest geoscience programs in the country.
I have worked with several organizations, building emphases on soil physics and ecohydrology. For example, I co-founded the International Soil Modeling Consortium, an organization dedicated to widening the use of soil models in other areas of science. I also co-founded the Soils and Soil Processes Division at the Geological Society of America and the Soils and Critical Zone Processes subcommittee at the American Geophysical Union. I am the former Editor of the Vadose Zone Journal and am a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and Geological Society of America. I have authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, several book chapters, 200-plus presentations at scholarly meetings, and many other technical reports. I have been the adviser or co-adviser for many M.S. and Ph.D. students.
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