Earth Sciences Division Staff: Michael Kowalsky

Biographical Summary

Dr. Kowalsky is a research scientist with the Hydrogeology Department in the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, California.

He began his career at the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate conducting laboratory experiments on wave propagation in fractured rock. He then pursued graduate studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, while performing laboratory experiments at LBNL to image non-aqueous-phase liquid contaminants in porous media using time-lapse seismic measurements. He received a research grant from the DAAD to spend a year at the University of Tübingen, Germany, during which time he worked primarily on developing a numerical code to simulate ground-penetrating radar measurements and using it to interpret field data collected in a nearby gravel quarry. After returning to Berkeley, he developed approaches for the coupled simulation and inversion of hydrological and geophysical data, leading to completion of his doctoral thesis. As a post-doctoral researcher at LBNL, he continued developing hydrogeophysical approaches that involved the numerical simulation of multi-phase flow and transport and various geophysical techniques (seismic, ground-penetrating radar, and electrical methods). His research activities also expanded to include the modeling of gas hydrate behavior in porous media, and code development in the TOUGH family of codes.

Currently employed as a research scientist at LBNL, Dr. Kowalsky is involved in projects with the following topics: predicting contaminant transport using hydrogeophysical data integration and dual-domain modeling approaches; coupled modeling of electrical resistance data and hydrogeochemical data to examine the effect of recharge on subsurface contamination; use of geophysical methods for monitoring production from gas hydrate accumulations and related geohazards; inverse modeling of hydrological data collected during biostimulation experiments; and inverse modeling of oil production data in conjunction with a seismic stimulation experiment.

Education

• PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Civil and Environmental Engineering (2003)
• MS, University of California, Berkeley, Civil and Environmental Engineering (1999)
• BS, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Engineering and Environmental Science (1997)

Research Interests

• Hydrogeophysics
• Coupled hydrogeophysical inversion (joint inversion of hydrological and geophysical data)
• Aquifer characterization using inverse modeling and data integration approaches
• Simulation of gas hydrate behavior and geophysical response
• Geostatistical and numerical methods in hydrogeology and geophysics

Experience

• Since 2006, Research Scientist, Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, California 
• 2004 – 2005, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Earth Sciences Division, LBNL, Berkeley, California
• 2000 – 2003, Graduate Student Researcher, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
• 1999 – 2000, Annual Research Grant Recipient (DAAD), Dept. of Applied Geology, University of Tübingen, Germany
• 1997 – 1999, Graduate Student Researcher, Earth Sciences Division, LBNL, Berkeley, California
• 1995 – 1997, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
• Summer 1995, Software Development Internship, Information Technology Dept., Forest Hospital, Des Plaines, Illinois       

Recognitions

• Member of team receiving Outstanding Performance Award, LBNL (2006)
• Member of team receiving Technology Transfer Award, LBNL (2005)
• Author of 6^th most requested article in Advances in Water Resources  (Apr. 2004 – Mar. 2005)

Sample Publications (Go here for complete list)

• Kowalsky, M.B., J. Birkholzer, J. Peterson, S. Finsterle, S. Mukhopadhyay, and Y. Tsang, 2008. Sensitivity analysis for joint inversion of GPR and thermal-hydrological data from a large-scale underground heater test,  Nuclear Technology, 164(2), 196-206.
• Kowalsky, M.B., and G. J. Moridis, 2007. Comparison of kinetic and equilibrium reactions in simulating the behavior of gas hydrates, Energy Conversion and Management, 48, 1850-1863, doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2007.01.017.
• Kowalsky, M.B., S. Finsterle, J. Peterson, S. Hubbard, Y. Rubin, E. Majer, A. Ward, and G. Gee, 2005. Estimation of field-scale soil hydraulic and dielectric parameters through joint inversion of GPR and hydrological data, Water Resour. Res., 41, W11425, doi:10.1029/2005WR004237.
• Kowalsky, M.B., S. Finsterle, and Y. Rubin, 2004. Estimating flow parameter distributions using ground-penetrating radar and hydrological measurements during transient flow in the vadose zone, Adv. in Water Res., 27(6), 583-599.
• Kowalsky, M.B., P. Dietrich, G. Teutsch, and Y. Rubin, 2001. Forward modeling of ground-penetrating radar data using digitized outcrop images and multiple scenarios of water saturation, Water Resour. Res., 37(6), 1615-1625 (2001WR900015).
• Geller, J.T., M.B. Kowalsky, P.K. Seifert, and K. Nihei, 2000. Acoustic detection of immiscible liquids in sand, Geophys. Res. Letters, Vol. 27, No. 3, 417-420 (1999GL010483).