Oct. 10, 2007

Shu-Guang Li, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). His research, especially his innovations in groundwater modeling and his integration of those innovations with GIS and Michigan’s statewide groundwater databases has led to a “technological leap forward” in the state’s ability to protect its groundwater resources, according to both Elgar Brown, Chief of Drinking Water and Environmental Health for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Scott Ross, Chief of the state’s Source Water Protection Unit.

Founded in 1852, ASCE represents more than 140, 000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest international engineering society. The ASCE Fellow grade is one of the highest membership grades in the organization, exceeded only by honorary membership, and is held by fewer than 5% of the total ASCE membership. ASCE awards fellowships to civil engineers who have made significant technical or professional contributions to the profession, hold a P.E. license, and have at least 10 years of exceptional, responsible engineering experience gained while at member grade in ASCE.

Li earned his Ph.D. in water resources and environmental engineering in 1993 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research covers a range of technical interests in hydrology and water resources, from theoretical to computational to technological, on fundamental as well as applied problems. His most significant contribution in recent years is the development of a new paradigm and improved methods for groundwater modeling and Interactive Ground Water (IGW), an internationally acclaimed computational steering environment for unified deterministic and stochastic modeling, as well as a state-of-the-art laboratory of excellence for real-time computing and multiscale modeling.

His creative integration of scientific hydrology, applied mathematics, computational innovations, new data sources, and information technologies has significantly advanced the ability of the hydrological community to model complex groundwater systems and expanded the utility of modeling as a tool for research, education, and professional investigation.

Li has published extensively in hydrology, especially in groundwater modeling and stochastic groundwater modeling. He is the author/co-author of 61 technical publications, 108 technical presentations at national/international conferences and other major meetings, and a high impact high-resolution visualization library for stochastic subsurface hydrology.

His research has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) during the past decade. He has been the principal or co-principal investigator on 23 research grants totaling approximately 5 million dollars, including 6 NSF grants totaling 2 million dollars. He is an associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, the National Groundwater Association's Journal of Ground Water, and the Journal of Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment.

He received the 2002 Premier Award from the NSF’s National Engineering Education Delivery System Organization. His IGW software was selected for the American Society of Engineering Education's NSF Showcase in 2002 and was given a “5-star” rating, and he was also recognized as the “Associate Editor’s Choice” by NSF’s National Science Digital Library. Li is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.