As part of the National Science Foundation EPSCOR project “ Improving Water Management, Treatment, and Recovery in Oil and Gas Production”, the WV Water Research Institute and the Davis College Energy Land Management program is providing funding to sponsor up to five undergraduate research projects to study the relation between energy production (and associated infrastructure) and water resources. Each project will receive the following funds: $1,000 to for faculty mentor, $3,500 for undergraduate student wages, and $1,000 for project. The final deliverable will culminate with a virtual presentation and associated poster presentation of research findings by the group.
These projects are meant to be interdisciplinary, and not limited by faculty specialty. Energy & water research associated with the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors would be relevant. As would research in other forms of energy production that share commonalities with petroleum production. All ideas are encouraged to be brought forth by students or faculty for consideration. Some examples of research may be:
- Novel treatments for produced water.
- Hydrologic regime related to erosion control settling ponds.
- Economic and environmental considerations in using water pipelines, rather than trucking water in to frac a site for gas production.
- Examining the feasibility of water capture and retention for re-use in domestic, agricultural, or industrial applications from solar farm impervious surfaces.
- Practices for reducing sedimentation during site construction
Please contact Walter Veselka (walter.veselka@mail.wvu.edu) or Shawn Grushecky (sgrushec@wvu.edu) for more information and to sign up.
