News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, April 24, 2006
LAWRENCE--A water scientist from the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, has been named a distinguished lecturer for one of the country's most prestigious hydrology lecture series.
James J. Butler, Jr., a senior scientist at the Survey, has been chosen as the 2007 Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecturer by the National Ground Water Association. The National Ground Water Association is the country's largest professional society for water scientists.
As part of the lectureship, Butler will describe his work to colleagues at academic institutions in the U.S. and around the world.
Butler's research focuses on groundwater issues, including the interaction between streams and aquifers, and the impact of water-loving plants--such as willows, cottonwoods, and salt cedars--on groundwater supplies. Both of those projects involve field studies along the Arkansas River near Larned and the Cimarron River near Ashland. He has also developed techniques for investigating sites of groundwater contamination at an experimental research site north of Lawrence in the Kansas River valley.
In addition to publishing a number of scientific papers, Butler is the author of The Design, Performance, and Analysis of Slug Tests, a book about tests that provide information needed for predicting the movement of contamination in groundwater and for cleaning up contaminated sites.
Butler has a Ph.D. and M.S. in applied geohydrology from Stanford University, and an undergraduate degree in geology from the College of William and Mary. He has been at the Kansas Survey since 1986. He is an associate of the Center for East Asian Studies at KU and a courtesy professor in the Department of Geology.
"The Darcy Lectureship recognizes the most outstanding hydrologists in North America," said William Harrison, the Survey's director. "Jim Butler has made a career of developing advanced methods to study real-world groundwater problems that face Kansas. This lectureship is proof of the scientific quality that he has brought to bear on some of the most important water issues in the state."