Ph.D., University of Alberta, 1992
Alan Fryar's interests broadly cover hydrogeology and environmental geochemistry. Areas of emphasis include delineating rates and sources of ground-water recharge and discharge; interactions of ground water and surface water; chemical evolution during ground-water recharge and flow; and natural attenuation of contaminants. Research projects with students have included controls on the composition of ground water in regional sedimentary aquifers, such as within the Bengal basin of India and the Texas High Plains; sediment and pathogen transport during storm flow through karst aquifers in the Inner Bluegrass region of central Kentucky; ground-water flow to streams in the Gulf Coastal Plain of western Kentucky; and the fate of trichloroethene, a common solvent and suspected carcinogen, in geologic media. These projects have been supported by the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Geological Survey as well as by UK. Student research typically includes a combination of field work, laboratory analyses, and mathematical modeling, and involves collaboration with other researchers at UK and elsewhere. Students commonly take courses not only in Geology, but also in related fields, such as Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Geography, and Plant and Soil Science. Former students have found work with consulting firms, with government agencies, and as university and high school teachers.
- *LaSage, D.M., Fryar, A.E., *Mukherjee, A., Sturchio, N.C., and Heraty, L.J., 2008, Groundwater-derived contaminant fluxes along a channelized Coastal Plain stream: Journal of Hydrology, v. 360, p. 265–280.
- *LaSage, D.M., *Sexton, J.L., *Mukherjee, A., Fryar, A.E., and Greb, S.F., 2008, Groundwater discharge along a channelized Coastal Plain stream: Journal of Hydrology, v. 360, p. 252–264.
- *Mukherjee, A., and Fryar, A.E., 2008, Deeper groundwater chemistry and geochemical modeling of the arsenic affected western Bengal basin, West Bengal, India: Applied Geochemistry, v. 23, no. 4, p. 863–894.
- Fryar, A.E., *Thompson, K.E., Hendricks, S.P., and White, D.S., 2007, Groundwater flow and reservoir management in a tributary watershed along Kentucky Lake: Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science, v. 68, no. 1, p. 11–23.
- *Mukherjee, A., Fryar, A.E., and Howell, P.D., 2007, Regional hydrostratigraphy and groundwater flow modeling of the arsenic affected western Bengal basin, West Bengal, India: Hydrogeology Journal, v. 15, no. 7, p. 1397–1418.
(* indicates student author)