Ryan Bailey headshot.

Ryan T. Bailey

Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ryan Bailey’s research focuses on the sustainability of watershed management practices in regards to water quantity and water quality. Recent projects have focused on the development of process-based, dynamic numerical modeling codes to identify sustainable management practices within environmental systems, and have provided a foundation for ongoing and future research. Projects include the assessment of selenium and nitrogen reactive transport in agricultural groundwater systems through field, laboratory, and numerical modeling, assessing impacts of agricultural dry-up scenarios on watershed processes, linking watershed and groundwater flow and transport models to assess the movement of water and nutrients in watersheds, and investigating best-management practices for pollutant remediation. These projects have involved model development and application to large-scale systems in the western United States, and have afforded opportunities to mentor undergraduate and graduate students. He also has been involved with the assessment of groundwater resources of small oceanic islands using field and modeling methods and the analysis of small-island water supply during drought and extreme-climate events, with projects in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Maldives. Work in the western Pacific has offered opportunities to train local water resource managers in optimizing water supply for island communities.

Research Focus Areas

  • Groundwater hydrology
  • Groundwater / surface water interactions
  • Chemical fate and transport in watershed systems
  • Numerical model development and application
  • Nonpoint source pollution
  • International water development

Education

  • B.S. 2006, Brigham Young University – Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • M.S. 2008, University of Guam – Environmental Science
  • Ph.D. 2012, Colorado State University – Civil and Environmental Engineering