Audrey Sawyer

Audrey Sawyer is a Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University, with a visiting appointment at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain). Her research focuses on understanding surface water-groundwater interactions, coastal hydrology, and nutrient/contaminant transport dynamics. She holds a Ph.D. in Hydrogeology from the University of Texas-Austin (2011). Sawyer leads the Computational Hydrogeology Research Group, which combines field observations, laboratory experiments, and high-performance computing to study hydrogeological processes. Her work addresses critical issues like coastal water quality, climate impacts on groundwater systems, and sustainable water management.

Education: Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin, 2011.

Research Interests:

• River-groundwater exchange
• Coastal surface water-groundwater interactions
• Coupled fluid/heat flow and reactive transport
• Flume and wave tank studies
• Clean drinking water accessibility

Recent work highlights include investigating submarine groundwater discharge pathways, saltwater intrusion due to climate change, and nutrient dynamics in tidal zones. Her studies emphasize methodological innovations like amphibious geophysical techniques and spectral analysis of hydrological connectivity.

Awards and Grants: Her students have received GSA Graduate Student Research Grants (Castillo, Field), and her team has explored post-storm water resilience in Texas. She collaborates internationally and maintains a computational lab with advanced instrumentation.

Labs/Teams: Computational Hydrogeology Research Group at OSU, with ongoing projects on flume experiments and numerical modeling of coastal systems.