Celia honored for research on groundwater dynamics

Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department chair Michael Celia GS '78 '79 '83 has won the American Geophysical Union's annual Hydrology Section Award, the group announced last week.

"It's an honor to be chosen by a committee of peers and colleagues in the scientific community," Celia said, referring to the awards committee composed of scholars who belong to the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Celia was recognized for his contributions to computational methods in hydrological research on water resources, according to a statement issued by the award committee.

"I'm very happy to receive this award that speaks so highly of the CEE department," Celia said. "There is no other institution that can claim to have three members of a single department as winners of this award."

CEE professors Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe and Eric Wood received the same hydrology honor in 1975 and 1977, respectively.

Celia has published several research papers in the past three years outlining techniques for injecting carbon underground, a method of "carbon sequestration" aimed at diminishing the buildup of atmospheric gases that may contribute to global warming.

"Michael was a key contributor of groundwater models that have many practical applications and allow researchers to understand the dispersal of toxins," Rodriguez-Iturbe said.

In addition to his work in subsurface hydrology, Celia said he has worked to develop "mathematical models of the ecological dynamics in arid environments, where water is a limiting factor."

Both Celia and Rodriguez-Iturbe — who have worked in joint research efforts — have established their reputations in the expanding field of eco-hydrology.

Celia's research in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels prompted his involvement with the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at its inception four years ago.

The organization is a subsidiary of the Princeton Environmental Institute that links faculty from the CEE, mechanical and aerospace engineering, environmental and evolutionary biology and geosciences departments, along with the Wilson School, to focus on problems related to the greenhouse effect and global warming.

"The award speaks well of interdepartmental work at Princeton," Celia said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

According to Rodriguez-Iturbe, Celia "is not only respected for the activity of his research, but the brilliance of his teaching. He is highly esteemed by his students."

Beginning in 1978, Celia earned an M.S., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University, where he worked under former University professor George Pinder to develop numerical algorithms. The two recently coauthored a textbook, "Groundwater Hydrology," which will be released in two months.

The awards committee considered the work of scientists from around the world with an emphasis on research undertaken in the past five years, said George M. Hornberger, a University of Virginia scientist who is president-elect of the AGU's hydrology section.

"Although it is the American Geophysical Union, it is an international organization," Rodriguez-Iturbe said.

Prior to joining the Princeton faculty in 1989, Celia researched "the disposal of low-level radioactive waste in shallow underground locations" during four years at MIT, he said.

Since that time, he said, "my research has involved how water and other fluids move underground, and is all connected in the same fundamental processes."