research

Our group researches physical hydrologic processes on the surface and in the subsurface of the earth. We integrate geophysical techniques, hydrologic measurements, and mathematical simulation to explore a wide range of processes including groundwater flow in porous media and fractured rock, contaminant transport, and groundwater-surface water exchange, as well as many interdisciplinary projects, some of which fall under the umbrella of critical zone science.

I admit M.S. and Ph.D. students most years into the Hydrologic Science & Engineering Program, and I’ll also admit students through the Geophysics Department. You can find more information on the admissions process here. Application materials are due December 15 to be considered for funding; I will note that funding is preferentially given to Ph.D. students, but I also will not admit Ph.D. students without funding available. If I have funding available, an opportunity will be posted below. If you are thinking about applying to graduate school, check out this video on how to write a great application essay. I also often have a postdoc or two in the group.

Water-focused students graduating from Mines have gotten great jobs all over the country, including jobs in academia, government (e.g., U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado Department of Public Health, Army Corps of Engineers, the Colorado Division of Water Resources, and multiple National Labs), and industry (Leppert, HydroGeoLogic, BGC, HRS, Leonard Rice, Itasca, Barr, Neptune, Jacobs, AECOM, Brown and Caldwell, TetraTech, and SSPA, among others I’m sure I’m forgetting).

If you’re interesting in working with me, please consider sending me an email with 1) your CV, 2) your background in brief, and 3) why you are specifically interested in working with me and/or at Mines. I’m not interested in your grades and test scores, but I am interested in evidence of your curiosity, team skills, communication, perseverance, and independence.

Below, I outline current and past multi-year projects of significant size; numerous other smaller projects are not listed here for brevity.

Currently Funded Projects

WaDE: Watershed Dynamics And Evolution Science Focus Area

Plant-mediated hydraulic redistribution: a valve controlling watershed solute transport?

Collaborative Research: How roots, regolith, rock and climate interact over decades to centuries — the R3-C Frontier

Collaborative Research: Network Cluster: Bedrock controls on the deep critical zone, landscapes, and ecosystems

Collaborative Research: Network Cluster: Quantifying controls and feedbacks of dynamic storage on critical zone processes in western montane watersheds

PFAS Exposure and Health Effects in El Paso County, Colorado

Laboratory Technician Support: Expanding Capabilities for Experimental Hydrogeophysics Research and Outreach

  • Sponsor: NSF Instrumentation and Facilities
  • Project Duration: 2018-2023
  • PI: Kamini Singha
  • Technician Supported: Jackie Randell (2018-2020), Luke Jacobsen (2020-2023), Katie Burgert (2023-present)

Previously Funded Research

Emergent hydrological properties associated with multiple channel-spanning logjams

How do interactions of transport and stoichiometry maximize stream nutrient retention?

Unraveling Controls of Anomalous Transport Through the Integration of Isotopic Tracers, Geophysical Data, and Numerical Modeling

From Roots to Rock—Linking Evapotranspiration and Groundwater Fluxes in the Critical Zone

  • Sponsor: NSF Hydrologic Sciences
  • Project Duration: 2015-2018
  • PIs: Holly Barnard (CU-Boulder), Kamini Singha
  • Students Supported: Rachel Feist Mares (M.S., 2015), Ryan Harmon (Ph.D. student, 2015-present)
  • See a video about the Critical Zone Observatories here: 

Unlocking the Transient Storage Blackbox: Revealing the Role of Less-Mobile Porosity in Hyporheic Denitrification and Greenhouse Gas Production

Coupled reactive transport and floodplain modeling of nutrient cycling

Climatic Extremes, Mining, and Mycobacterium ulcerans: A Coupled Systems Perspective

Geoelectrical Measurement of Multiscale Mass Transfer Parameters

What are the seasonal controls on stream-riparian groundwater exchange during baseflow recession in headwater catchments?

CAREER: Mass Transport in Groundwater: an Integration of Research and Experiential Education

  • Sponsor: NSF Hydrologic Sciences
  • Project Duration: 2008-2014
  • PI: Kamini Singha
  • Students Supported: Daniel Wheaton (PSU M.S., 2009), Rachel Urban (PSU M.S., 2013), James Bethune (Mines M.S., 2014), Ryan Swanson (Mines Ph.D., 2014), Sydney Wilson (Mines M.S., 2015)
  • Field Camp Participants 2009: Nathan Barber, Maurice Dukes, Erica Folio, Mitchell Johnson, Valentina Prado, Tamika Shannon, Ahmed Izzuddin Yusof, Nate Wysocki
  • Field Camp Participants 2010: Tramond Baisden, Cody Bomberger, Adella Dexter, Derrell Mathis, Britton Mosley, Danielle Norcini, Claudia Shuman, Stephanie Troutman, Adam Wlostowski
  • Field Camp Participants 2011: Stone Abdullah, Lindsey Anderson, Travis Darney, Fatimata Diop, Irena Gorski, Austin Green, Lindsay Kromel, Lizzie Starks, Thornton Wilson
  • Field Camp Participants 2012: Cameron Boggan, Molly Cain, Brandon Clark, Ryan Creitz, Mercedes Gainor, Ammanuiel Kebede, Raleigh Koeberle, Bryan Tan

Toward quantifying kinetics of biotic and abiotic metal reduction with electrical geophysical methods

Regolith and the Critical Zone of the Susquehanna River Basin: The Shale Experiment

Development of Field-Scale Petrophysical Relations for Understanding Flow and Transport Studies in Fractured Media with Electrical Resistivity Tomography

  • Sponsor: American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
  • Project Duration: 2006-2008
  • PI: Kamini Singha
  • Student Supported: Daniel Wheaton (PSU M.S., 2009)