When
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Mike Geddis’ reflection about the (Thomas) Meixner Memorial Foundation and associated lecture series
Tom and I met in grad school in the early 1990s. We overlapped at the Hydrology and Water Resources Department when it was in the College of Engineering and we were both working on our PhDs…the first time he had leukemia. Tom continued on with academia and I stopped, got my MSc in Hydrogeology, and went into consulting. I checked in with Tom when I could make it to events down at the University here in Tucson over the years. There was this continual concern on our part, especially with Ty, that fewer and fewer practical skills were being introduced into the UA HAS MSc student curriculum. Therefore, I will help the Meixner Memorial Foundation (MMF) support UArizona’s Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences (HAS) by providing access to Environmental and Mining Hydrogeology professionals and selected applied and practical projects. Several local mines use hydrogeology MSc graduates to establish and operate groundwater containment and pit slope depressurization systems. I can help applied students develop an understanding of what different types of open pit mines exist and how applied subsurface hydrogeology varies for each, the operational realities associated with in-pit dewatering strategies, water balance/water supply cocepts, and safe tailings storage facility (TSF) operation and monitoring. The local governmental drinking and agricultural water supply entities all benefit from UA HAS graduates. I will work to get the professionals who operate these systems for these organizations to explain how they are designed, operated, and updated or retired. I will help HAS develop a short video library of talks on specific practical projects by recognized professionals actively working on these topics, for use in the one-year MSc program and by other lay people in our community.
Access remotely via zoom (see email - Contact Dr. Martha P.L. Whitaker