Welcome to the NSF Workshop on Emerging Geoenvironmental Technologies

Please take a moment to browse through our web pages and find out what the Workshop is all about.

Over the last decade there has been rapid growth in the field of Geoenvironmental engineering. Owing to this rapid evolution, there has been an expansion in the horizons of work for geoenvironmental engineers. Geoenvironmental Engineers were once mostly responsible for characterization of contaminated sites, design of in-situ barriers and landfills and characterization and beneficial use of waste materials. They are now becoming more and more involved in conducting risk assessments, remediating contaminated sites, designing and monitoring barrier systems for difficult contaminants such as non-aqueaous phase liquids, as well as developing large-scale projects for the reuse of waste and recycled materials.

Such an expanded scope for geoenvironmental engineers requires them to have a broader multi-disciplinary knowledge, particularly in fields such as hydrogeology, geochemistry, microbiology as well as economics and public policy. Another challenge for geoenvironmental engineers is that they must be capable to utilize rapidly advancing technologies, such as sensor technologies, nanotechnologies and information technologies.

• What is the expanded role of geoenvironmental engineers in pollution control and remediation?
• Are geoenvironmental engineers prepared to address these new challenges?
• What are the knowledge gaps and what are the research needs in geoenvironmental engineering?
• How can the geoenvironmental engineering curriculum be enhanced?

In order to address these questions, it is imperative that geoenvironmental engineers have meetings where they can collectively identify and discuss the emerging opportunities and the challenges they face. I would like to invite you to actively participate in this Workshop by proposing interesting topics and innovative ideas that would lead to development of cutting edge technology.