GWE Committee

Chair

Grant Ferguson

Grant Ferguson is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering and a member of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan.  He holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Waterloo (2000) and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Manitoba (2004).  He teaches and conducts research in hydrogeology and engineering geology.  His current interests include the deep groundwater systems, understanding the impacts of oil and gas development on groundwater and geothermal energy. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, an area with extensive oil and gas developments and significant legacy impacts, is a focus of this work.  Grant Ferguson is the past-president of IAH’s Canadian National Chapter.

Co-Chair

Bridget R. Scanlon

Bridget Scanlon is a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin. Her degrees are in Geology with a focus on hydrogeology with a B.A. Mod. from Trinity College, Dublin (1980), M.Sc. from the Univ. of Alabama (1983), and Ph.D. from the Univ. of Kentucky (1985). She has worked at the Univ. of Texas since 1987. Her current research focuses on the interdependence of water and energy, focusing on water quantity aspects. Her group evaluated water use for hydraulic fracturing for shale oil and gas extraction relative to water use in electricity generation. Their recent work focuses on oil plays in semiarid regions where water scarcity is a concern. She has been evaluating produced water management and induced seismicity. She also works on broader issues related to water resources within the context of climate extremes using ground-based and satellite data. She serves an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research and Environmental Research Letters and has authored ~ or co-authored ~100 publications. Dr. Scanlon is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America and a member of the National Academy of Engineering..