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Devin Lynn Galloway

Devin L Galloway is a Scientist Emeritus Research Hydrologist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area. 

During the mid-1970s the emerging movement in our culture and the sciences toward understanding human impacts on our environment piqued my interests in the environmental and earth sciences. In 1978 I began my career with the USGS in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where I first became interested in hydrogeology and later studied hydrogeology at the University of Illinois. Since then I've worked on many hydrogeology projects while stationed in USGS offices in Colorado, California, and Indiana. Along the way I've been fortunate to work directly and indirectly on many interesting studies of national and international relevance related to groundwater availability and sustainability, and the role of groundwater in geologic processes.

My primary research interests have been in hydrogeologic processes involving 1) the compaction of susceptible aquifer systems and resulting land subsidence that accompanies groundwater depletion; 2) response of groundwater levels to stresses imposed on aquifer systems owing to volcanism, tectonics (earthquakes), earth tides and atmospheric loading; and 3) natural and human-induced perturbations in groundwater recharge and discharge. I have been engaged nationally and internationally in efforts to raise awareness and understanding of the inland and coastal subsidence caused by intense groundwater extraction. I am past Chair of the UNESCO Working Group on Land Subsidence and the ASCE Task Committee on Land Subsidence and have led many national and international workshops on monitoring, analyzing and modeling aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence.

Since retiring from the USGS (after 40+ years of service) at the end of 2018 as a Research Hydrologist with the Earth Science Processes Division, Water Mission Area, I volunteer with the USGS as Scientist Emeritus. I collaborate on hydrogeologic research with scientists internal and external to the USGS, and advise, collaborate with, and otherwise serve USGS Water Science Centers and other USGS Offices and Programs on hydrogeologic aspects of various earth-science projects and programs.

Education

  • Master of Science Civil Engineering (MSCE, Hydrosystems-Hydrogeology), The Grainger College of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, 1987
  • Master of Science Environmental Science (MSES, Water Resources), Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 1978
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Biology, The College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, 1974