Faculty
Basic Introduction:
Chunmiao Zheng holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a fellow of both the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Geological Society of America (GSA). He is currently Chair Professor and Director of the Shenzhen Institute of Sustainable Development at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, and also serves as Chair Professor and Vice President of the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo, China. He joined SUSTech in 2015 as the Founding Dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering and served as Vice Provost of Global Strategies from 2018 to 2022. Previously, he was Chair Professor and Director of the Institute of Water Sciences at Peking University in Beijing, China, and held faculty positions from Assistant Professor to George Lindahl III Endowed Professor at the University of Alabama. His research interests include groundwater contaminant transport and remediation, basin-scale ecohydrological processes, and the effects of global change and emerging contaminants on water resource sustainability. He is the developer of the MT3D/MT3DMS series of contaminant transport models used in over 100 countries, and is the author or co-author of over 480 peer-reviewed journal papers and six books, including Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling. Currently, he is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the international open-access journal Sustainable Horizons and has served as associate editor for five leading hydrology and water resource journals, including Water Resources Research. He has also served on the Committee on Hydrologic Science of the U.S. National Research Council, as President of the International Commission on Groundwater of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), and as a member of the advisory panel for the “Environmental Science Earth” section of the National Natural Science of China (NSFC). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lectureship (2009) and the O.E. Meinzer Award (2013) from the Geological Society of America, the John Hem Award (1998) and the M. King Hubbert Award (2013) from the National Ground Water Association in the United States, as well as the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) (2024).
Employment History:
2022-Now: Chair Professor and Director, Shenzhen Institute of Sustainable Development, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
2022-Now: Chair Professor and Vice President, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China.
2018-2022: Chair Professor and Vice Provost of Global Strategies, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
2015-2018: Chair Professor and Founding Dean, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
2010-2018: Chair Professor and Founding Director, Institute of Water Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China (on joint appointment after 2015).
2010-2018: George Lindahl III Endowed Professor of Hydrogeology, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama (on leave after 2013).
2002-2009: Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama.
1997-2002: Associate Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama.
1993-1997: Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama.
1988-1993: Senior Hydrogeologist, S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland.
Professional Experience:
2021-Now: Visiting Chair Professor, Yangtze Institute for Conservation and Development, affiliated with Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
2018-Now: Lindahl Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama.
2006-2009: Visiting Professor and Founding Director, Center for Water Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
2001: Visiting Fellow, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
2000: Visiting Associate Professor, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
2000: Visiting Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California.
1995: Visiting Fellow, Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organization, Sydney, Australia.
1991: Assistant Professional Lecturer, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Education:
1985-1988: Ph.D., Hydrogeology, with a minor in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin.
1983-1984: Postgraduate Studies in Geology and Applied Mathematics, Chengdu University of Technology (formerly Chengdu College of Geology), China.
1979-1983: B.S., Geology, specializing in Hydrogeology, Chengdu University of Technology (formerly Chengdu College of Geology), China.
Major Committees and Editorial Boards:
2023-Now: Hydrology Fellow Committee, American Geophysical Union
2021-Now: Co-Editor-in-Chief, Sustainable Horizons
2019-Now: Advisory Panel, Section on Environmental Earth Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China
2018-2020: Paul A. Witherspoon Mid-Career Lecturer in Hydrologic Sciences Award Committee, American Geophysical Union
2016-Now: Associate Editor, Vadose Zone Journal
2015-Now: Associate Chair, Steering Committee, Major Research Program “Runoff Change in the Headwater Region of China’s Southwestern Rivers and Their Adaptive Management”, National Natural Science Foundation of China
2013-2018: Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition)
2010-2018: Member, Steering Committee, Major Research Program “An Integrated Study of Ecohydrological Processes in the Heihe River Basin”, National Natural Science Foundation of China
2010-2015: Associate Editor, Water Resources Research
2009-2013: Blue Ribbon Panel on “Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences”, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
2007-2014: Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology
2007-2013: President-elect and President, International Commission on Groundwater, International Association of Hydrologic Sciences (IAHS)
2005-2015: Standing Committee on Hydrologic Science, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
2005-2007: Treasurer, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI), Washington, D.C.
2004-2008: Science and Technology Center Site Review Team, National Science Foundation
2003-2007: Associate Editor, Hydrogeology Journal, International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and Geological Society of America (GSA)
2003-2004: Chair-elect and Chair, International Professionals for the Advancement of Chinese Earth Sciences (IPACES)
1998-2010: Associate Editor and Software Column Editor (2002-), Journal Ground Water, National Ground Water Association
Awards and Honors:
2024: Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) (Groundwater category) (https://www.psipw.org)
2024: Highly Cited Researchers 2024, Clarivate (https://clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/)
2019: Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU) (https://eos.org/agu-news/2019-class-of-agu-fellows-announced)
2014: Distinguished Alumni Award, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin.
2013: O.E. Meinzer Award, Hydrogeology Division, Geological Society of America (http://www.geosociety.org/awards/13speeches/meinzer.htm).
2013: M. King Hubbert Award, National Ground Water Association. (https://www.ngwa.org/members/awards/m-king-hubbert-award-recipients)
2012: Distinguished Lecturer for Hydrology Section, AOGS-AGU (WPGM) Joint Assembly, Singapore.
2009: Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, Hydrogeology Division, Geological Society of America (https://community.geosociety.org/hydrodivision/aboutus/birdsall-lectures/past).
2008: DuPont Lecturer, University of Delaware.
2005: Oliver Lectureship in Hydrogeology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas-Austin, Texas.
1999: Fellow, Geological Society of America.
1998: John Hem Excellence in Science and Engineering Award, National Ground Water Association.
Research Interests:
1. Effects of global change and emerging contaminants on groundwater sustainability
2. Integrated studies of hydrologic and ecological processes at watershed scales
3. Surface water-groundwater interactions and their ecological and environmental effects
4. Effects of physical and chemical heterogeneities on contaminant transport and remediation
5. Novel technologies for green environmental remediation and nature-based carbon sequestration
Selected funded projects:
1. Occurrence and transport of agriculture-related microplastics in soil and groundwater, National Key R&D Program of China – Intergovernmental Collaborative Project, 2023-2025, PI.
2. Roles of anomalous diffusion in groundwater contaminant source identification, in situ remediation and risk assessment: A theoretical and experimental study, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2020-2024, PI.
3. Migration and transformation of nutrients across the land-sea interface in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2019-2023, PI.
4. Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, Government of Guangdong Province, 2023-2025, PI.
5. Pollution risk assessment, early warming, and emergency management associated with drinking water source areas, City of Shenzhen, 2021-2024, PI.
Teaching：
Courses:
Undergraduate and graduate courses taught at SUSTech, Peking University, and University of Alabama since 1993
(1) Hydrogeology
(2) Introduction to Groundwater Modeling
(3) Concepts and Models in Contaminant Hydrogeology
(4) Geostatistics
(5) Coupled Transport and Geochemical Modeling
(6) Groundwater Management
(7) Advanced Groundwater Hydrology
(8) Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control: The US Experience
Published Works:
Over 480 SCI journal papers; 1 major textbook (with 1st, 2nd and Chinese editions) and 5 other books; 11 software manuals.
A complete publication list and citation matrix can be found:
1. Including all papers, books and software:
Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=g0FPeQsAAAAJ
2. Including SCI papers only:
Web of Science: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/I-5257-2014
Five Representative Papers from the Past Five Years (*corresponding author)
1. Kuang, X., J. Liu*, B.R. Scanlon, J.J. Jiao, S. Jasechko, M. Lancia, B.K. Biskaborn, Y. Wada, H. Li, Z. Zeng, Z. Guo, Y. Yao, T. Gleeson, J.-P. Nicot, X. Luo, Y. Zou, C. Zheng*, 2024, The changing nature of groundwater in the global water cycle, Science, 383, eadf0630, doi: 10.1126/science.adf0630.
2. Yu, J., Y. Tian*, X. Wang, T. Sun, M. Lancia, C.B. Andrews, C. Zheng*, 2024, Integrated modeling of flow, soil erosion, and nutrient dynamics in a regional watershed: Assessing natural and human-induced impacts, Water Resour. Res., 60(9), doi: 10.1029/2024WR037531.
3. Chen, K., X. Chen, J.C. Stegen, J.A. Villa, …, E.E. Roden*, C. Zheng*, 2023, Vertical hydrologic exchange flows control methane emissions from riverbed sediments, Environ. Sci. Technol., 57(9), 4014–4026, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07676.
4. Feng, Y., Z. Zeng*, T.D. Searchinger, A.D. Ziegler, …, C. Zheng*, 2022, Doubling of annual forest carbon loss over the tropics during the early twenty-first century, Nature Sustainability, 5, 444-451, doi: 10.1038/s41893-022-00854-3.
5. Ben, Y., C. Fu, M. Hu, L. Liu, M. H. Wong, C. Zheng*, 2019, Human health risk assessment of antibiotic resistance associated with antibiotic residues in the environment: A review, Environmental Research, 169, 483-493. (Cited over 1,080 times on Google Scholar by 10/2024.)
Major Books and Computer Software
1．National Research Council (NRC), 2012, Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 188 pp. (Chunmiao Zheng was a member of the NRC committee that authored this book report, available at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13293/challenges-and-opportunities-in-the-hydrologic-sciences).
2．Zheng, C. and G.D. Bennett, 2009, Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling, Chinese Edition, Higher Education Press, Beijing, China, in collaboration with John Wiley & Sons, New York, 417 pp.
3．Committee on Chinese Groundwater Science, 2009, Challenges and Opportunities in Chinese Groundwater Science, Science Press, Beijing, China, 200 pp. (Chunmiao Zheng was chair of the committee that authored this book report.)
4．Zheng, C., and G.D. Bennett, 2002, Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 621 pp. (http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471384771.html).
5．Zheng, C., and G.D. Bennett, 1995, Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling: Theory and Practice, Van Nostrand Reinhold (now John Wiley & Sons), New York, 440 pp.
6．Zheng, C., and P.P. Wang, 1999, MT3DMS: A Modular 3-D Multi-species Transport Model for Simulation of Advection, Dispersion and Chemical Reactions of Contaminants in Groundwater Systems; Documentation and User’s Guide, Contract Report SERDP-99-1, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS, 169 pp. (available at https://web.archive.org/web/20170129200934/http://hydro.geo.ua.edu/mt3d/).
Zheng, C., 1990, MT3D: A Modular 3-D Transport Model for Simulation of Advection, Dispersion and Chemical Reactions of Contaminants in Groundwater Systems, Report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 170 pp.