Leading the way: Central State University researcher to study groundwater contamination forecasting

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Arunasalam Rahunanthan, Ph.D., interim dean of the John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Agriculture and professor of Mathematics at Central State University, is the principal investigator for a $500,000 National Science Foundation Excellence in Research award to work on a novel computational framework for groundwater contamination forecasting. 

Rahunanthan and co-principal investigator Dr. Luis Felipe Pereira, professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Text at Dallas (UTD), will develop novel and computationally efficient multiscale strategies for sampling subsurface properties in aquifers. 

As a practical application, the two researchers will also aim to use the framework to guide field engineers in determining the location of monitoring wells for a reliable prediction of contamination in underground flows.

Rahunanthan expects between four and five Central State Mathematics and Computer Science majors to participate every year in the project by working with the PIs and graduate students at UTD over the three-year period of the study.