Bo Guo Honored with U of A Distinguished Scholar Award
Congratulations to Bo Guo, recipient of the University of Arizona's Distinguished Scholar Award!
Bo Guo, HAS Associate Professor and now designated as a Distinguished Scholar, was among 25 University of Arizona faculty members recognized in Spring 2026 through 13 prestigious University-wide Awards of Distinction. These eminent faculty have been chosen for their remarkable achievements in research, teaching, service, mentoring, administration or cooperative extension by committees composed of distinguished faculty. The Provost's award profile included the following comments:
Dr. Bo Guo is a computational hydrologist focusing on understanding and predicting the movement of fluids, solutes, and particles through the pore spaces of soils and rocks. His work integrates rigorous theoretical analysis with development of practical computational tools to address critical environmental and energy challenges in the Earth’s subsurface, including cleanup of soil and groundwater contaminants, hydrocarbon recovery from shale formations, geological storage of CO₂, and advancing critical zone science.
Dr. Bo has published 61 peer-reviewed papers (54 since joining UA) in leading journals such as PNAS, Geophysical Research Letters, Water Resources Research, and Environmental Science & Technology. Alongside his fundamental contributions, his work has made important direct societal impacts.
His group developed PFAS-LEACH, a suite of practical modeling tools now widely used by practitioners and government agencies worldwide to characterize and manage PFAS-contaminated sites. He has led/co-led 16 research projects totaling $9.6 million in funding ($3.7 million as PI), including a $1.34 million project from the U.S. Dept. of Defense that funded the development of PFAS-LEACH and NSF CAREER Award.
Since 2018, Bo has given 23 invited talks (including two keynote/plenary talks) at international conferences and 48 invited seminars at research institutions. In 2024, Bo received the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (Germany).
Bo has advised 1 research scientist, 2 postdocs, 8 PhD and 5 MS students and has served on 20 PhD and 4 MS committees in addition to mentoring his own students. His graduate mentees have received a total of 31 awards/scholarships at department, college, and international levels. He is also a founding instructor of new HAS’s hydrogeology MS program, playing a central role in shaping its curriculum and academic direction. Most recently, he received the 2026 Galileo Circle Curie Award, recognizing him as a rising star whose innovative work is advancing the scientific community.
Bo serves as Editor of Hydrology & Earth System Sciences and Associate Editor for Water Resources Research and J. of Hydrology. He is Chair of the AGU Groundwater Technical Committee and Chair of the Membership Committee for Intl. Society for Porous Media (InterPore). Bo organized and chaired the 25th Computational Methods in Water Resources (CMWR) Conference, held in 2024 at UA with over 230 participants from 26 countries.