William J Andrews, Ph.D.

William J. "Bill" Andrews has worked for the USGS since 1988. His positions in the USGS have included: Hydrologist, Web Content Manager, Water-Quality Specialist, Groundwater Specialist, Report Specialist, Section Chief, Acting Deputy Center Director, Acting Center Director, Center Director, Regional Science Coordinator, and Regional Senior Scientist for Water and Ecosystems.

Biography

Bill Andrews has served in a wide range of technical and supervisory roles at USGS Water Science Centers in Florida, Minnesota, and Oklahoma, including Hydrologist, Groundwater Specialist, Webmaster, Studies Section Chief, Report Specialist, Acting Center Director, and Center Director. He has assisted in Water Mission Area headquarters projects related to online review of technical reports, water-quality programs, and completion of annual reports for the Office of Delaware River Master. He served as Acting Deputy Director for the South-Central Climate Science Center.

Bill currently serves as a Senior Scientist for Water and Ecosystems for the Rocky Mountain Region (Dept. of the Interior Unified Region 7) of the USGS, which involves reviewing and writing technical documents and publications, advising a regional integrated drought science project, reviewing center science programs, and managing the Region's webpages.

Bill has taught graduate-level classes and laboratory sections in biology and ecology at the College of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and guest lectured about emerging contaminants at graduate-level classes at the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, Division of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. He has guest lectured about plant uptake of metals, phytoremediation plant selection, and economic returns of phytoremediation designs at the Graduate School of Design, Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University.

Bill has lead-authored or coauthored 49 USGS-series publications, 6 journal papers, 13 conference proceedings papers, 18 conference abstracts, 2 data releases, and 2 university publications and has given numerous presentations about hydrology, emerging contaminants, relations between land uses and water quality, climate change, and induced seismicity at science conferences, for university classes, and to the general public.

Professional Experience

1988-94-Hydrologist-USGS Florida District Office
Worked on projects related to acid-seepage lakes, Floridan Aquifer water resources, deep-well wastewater injection, agricultural effects on water quality, temporal variation of water quality, and designing and calibrating finite-difference groundwater flow models
1994-97-Groundwater Specialist and Web Content Manager, Upper Mississippi River Basin Unit, National Water-Quality Assessment Program, USGS MN District Office.
Supervised groundwater activities, conducting retrospective data analysis, reviewed and wrote technical reports, designed sampling networks, conducted state-of-the-art water quality sampling, and managed the project website
1997-2003-Hydrologic Investigations Section Chief, District Water-Quality Specialist, and Information Officer, USGS, OK Wtr. Sci. Ctr.
Supervised 12 hydrologists conducting a wide variety of water-resources investigations
Wrote numerous proposals, QAPP’s, and reports for water-quality investigations and met with Federal, State, Tribal, and private parties to discuss water-resource issues
2004-10-Research and Teaching Assistant, University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Maintained a 4.0 GPA in courses including Environmental Assessment Regulations, Risk Assessment, Contaminant Transport, Wetlands Science, Ecology and Biology and other topics
Conducted research about uptake of metals by trees and wildlife in an abandoned mining district
2010--Acting Deputy Director, South Central Climate Science Center
Assisted with preparation and revision of planning and program documents, reviewed grant proposals, and participated in conference calls with Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
2010-14-Hydrologist, Reports Specialist, and Water-Use Specialist, USGS, OK Wtr. Sci. Ctr.
Wrote proposals and conducted studies about water resources in Tribal lands
Compiled water-use estimates for 2010 in Oklahoma
Reviewed more than 100 reports and journal papers for technical standards and editorial guidelines and facilitated printing of numerous reports and papers
2013-Adjunct Professor, University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Taught senior/graduate-level Biology and Ecology class and laboratory section
2014-18-Director, Oklahoma Water Science Center, USGS, OK Wtr. Sci. Ctr.
Managed 40 staff members in 3 offices that collect hydrologic data (streamflow, groundwater levels and water quality) or write interpretive reports about water resources (quality, availability, and web-mapping applications) in cooperation with 45 other agencies
2018-24-Science Coordinator, USGS Rocky Mntn. Region
Organize and conduct Science Program Reviews of USGS Science Centers, Participate in National USGS Fire Science, Hurricane Coordination, and Coastal Storm Teams, Serve as Regional Point of Contact for Water Science Center Quality Assurance Reviews and Water Policy Advisory Committees, Participate in Colorado River Basin drought science project.
2024-Present-Senior Scientist for Water and Ecosystems, USGS Rocky Mountain Region
Conduct Science Program Reviews of USGS Science Centers, Organize regional science workshops, Participate in USGS fire science Hurricane Coordination Team, Coastal Storm Team, Serve as Regional Point of Contact for Water Science Center Quality Assurance Reviews, Participate in CO River Basin drought science project.

Honors and Awards

Recipient of numerous performance awards in the USGS Florida and USGS Minnesota Districts, Oklahoma Water Science Center, Rocky Mountain Region, and Headquarters, U.S. Geological Survey, 1988-2023
Recipient Central Regional Diversity Group Award, U.S. Geological Survey, 10/2010
Recipient of the Fred and Katie Cobb and Robert H. Cobb Scholarship, University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, 9/2007
Recipient of University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate, Conference and Creative Exhibition Grant, 4/2007
Recipient of Air and Waste Management Association, Oklahoma Chapter Scholarship, 4/2007
Recipient of University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate, Research and Creative Activity Grant, 11/2006
Recipient of University of Oklahoma Research Council Grant, 10/2006
Recipient of 2005 American Society of Mining and Reclamation Memorial Scholarship for PhD Student
Member Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2005-2015
Member Gamma Beta Phi Honor and Service Society, 2005-2011
Awarded Fellowship in U.S. Department of Education’s Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Program, January 2004-December 2007
USGS “S.T.A.R.” award from headquarters, 10/5/2003
Recipient of the Mike Synar Environmental Excellence Award—L.E.A.D. Agency and Cherokee Volunteer Society (2003)
Letter of Appreciation from The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (2007)
Letter of Appreciation from National Water Quality Monitoring Council (2001)
Letter of Appreciation from Texas County (Okla.) Conservation District (2001)
Letter of Appreciation from Cimarron County (Okla.) Conservation District (2001)
Letter of Appreciation from Hall Environmental Services (2000)
Letter of Appreciation from USGS Chief Hydrologist (1994)
Letter of Appreciation from Congresswoman Nancy L. Johnson (1985, while serving in the National Park Service)

Abstracts and Presentations

Andrews, W.J., 1995, Volatile organic compounds in surface and ground water in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1978-94 (Abstract), in Proceedings of the 40th Annual Midwest Groundwater Conference, Columbia, Missouri, October 1995, p. 24.
Andrews, W.J., Trotta, L.C., and Schoenberg, M.E., 1995, Water-level declines from 1980-90 in major aquifers in the Twin Cities Area, in Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the American Water Resources Association, Houston, Texas, November, 1995, p. 63-72.
Stark, J.R., Andrews, W.J., Fallon, J.D., and Kroening, S.E., 1996, Volatile organic compounds in surface water and ground water in parts of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 1978-94 in Hydrology and hydrogeology of urbanizing areas, a collection of papers presented at the conference held in Boston, Massachusetts, April 21-24, 1996: American Institute of Hydrology, p. WQE26-WQE35.
Andrews, W.J., and Fong, A.L., 1996, Nutrients, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds in ground water in part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 1978-94 (Abstract), in Minnesota Water ‘96--Changing patterns of power and responsibility: implications for water policy, Fifth Biennial Conference on Water Resources in Minnesota, University of Minnesota, Water Resources Research Center, May 20-2
Andrews, W.J., Stark, J.R., and Fong, A.L., 1996, Nutrients and pesticides in ground water in part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1978-94 (Abstract), in Program and abstracts of the 41st Annual Midwest Groundwater Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, September 29-October 1, 1996, pp. 99-100.
Fong, A.L., Andrews, W.J., and Stark, J.R., 1997, Ground-water quality in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan/Trempealeau aquifer in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1996 (Abstract), in Program and abstracts of the 42nd Annual Midwest Groundwater Conference, Coralville, Iowa, October 22-24, 1997, p. 18.
Andrews, W.J., Stark, J.R., and Fong, A.L., 1997, Ground-water quality in the northwestern Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota (Abstract), in Program and abstracts of the 42nd Annual Midwest Groundwater Conference, Coralville, Iowa, October 22-24, 1997, p. 15.
Stark, J.R., Fong, A.L., and Andrews, W.J., 1998, Ground-water quality in unconfined glacial aquifers in part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin--the influence of land use (Abstract): Program and abstracts of the 43rd Annual Midwest Groundwater Conference, Lawrence, Kansas, October 12-14, 1998, p. 15.
Andrews, W.J., 1999, Time-series sampling for nutrients and bacteria in ground water at four North Florida dairy farms and three springs along the Suwannee River, 1990-93, in Effects of animal feeding operations on water resources and the environment--proceedings of the technical meeting, Fort Collins Colorado, August 30 - September 1, 1999: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-204, p. 61.
Andrews, W.J., Fong, A.L., and Stark, J.R., 1999, Ground-water quality along a flowpath in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 1997-98 (Abstract), in Program and abstracts of the 44th Annual Midwest Ground Water Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 13-15, 1999, pp. 34-35.
Stark, J.R., Andrews, W.J., Fong, A.L., and Puckett, L.J., 1999, Ground-water quality along a flowpath in a surficial glacial aquifer in the Upper Mississippi River Basin--the influence of land use (Abstract), in Apps, J.A., and Tsang, C. (eds.), Fourth USA/CIS Joint Conference, Hydrologic Issues of the 21st Century: Ecology, Environment, and Human Health, November 7-10, 1999, San Francisco, CA
Andrews, W.J., 1999, Time-series sampling for nutrients and bacteria in ground water at four North Florida dairy farms and three springs along the Suwannee River, 1990-93 (Poster abstract), in Workshop agenda and abstracts, Animal feeding operations: effects on hydrologic resources and the environment, August 30-September 1, 1999, Ft. Collins, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2000
Andrews, W.J., 2003, Occurrence of metals in ground water, surface water, and streambed sediment in the Tar Creek Superfund Site and adjoining Tribal Jurisdictional Statistical Areas, 1997-2003, in Workshop on Mining Impacted Native American Lands, September 9-11, 2003, Reno, NV: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, pp. 20-21.
Andrews, W.J., 2006, Investigation of time trends in bioavailable metals in the Tri-State mining district through analysis of metals concentrations in tree rings, in program of 135th SME annual meeting and exhibit and 7th ICARD, March 26-29, 2006, Saint Louis, MO, p. 62.
Andrews, W.J., Nairn, R.W., and Minarik, W.G., 2007, Preliminary assessment of time trends in bioavailable metals in the Tri-State lead/zinc mining district through analysis of tree cores, in 2007 National Meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation, Gillette, WY, 30 Years of SMCRA and Beyond June 2-7, 2007. R.I. Barnhisel (Ed.) Published by ASMR, 3134 Montavesta Rd., Lexington, KY.
Nairn, R.W., Beisel, T., Thomas, R.C., LaBar, J.A., Strevett, K.A., Fuller, D., Strosnider, W.H., Andrews, W.J., Bays, J., and Knox, R.C., 2009, Challenges in design and construction of a large multi-cell passive treatment system for ferruginous lead-zinc mine waters, In Barnhisel, R.I. (Ed.), Proceedings of Joint Conference of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation 26th Annual
Andrews, W.J., Nairn, R.W., and Moreno, C.J.G, 2014, Potential recovery of aluminum, titanium, lead, and zinc from fine tailings in the abandoned Picher mining district of Oklahoma, in program of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation Annual Conference, Oklahoma City, OK, June 16-20, 2014.
Andrews, W.J., 2014, USGS Oklahoma Water Science Center Projects in 2014, in program of the Oklahoma Governor’s Water Conference and Research Symposium, October 22-23, 2014, Oklahoma City, OK
Brewer, S.K., Worthington, T.A., Mollenhauer, Robert, and Andrews, William, 2014, Assessing changes in fish traits and water quality in a large Great Plains River, in Program of the 144th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, p. 117.
Kennen, Jonathan, Brewer, S.K., Worthington, T.A., Gutierrez Canovas, Carlos, Vieux, Baxter, and Andrews, William, 2015, Spatial variation in the fish assemblage of a large Great Plains River, in Program of the 145th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Portland, Oregon, p. 197.
Vieux, Baxter, Andrews, William, Brewer, Shannon, Worthington, Thomas, Kennen, Jonathan, and Looper, Jonathan, 2015, Projecting hydrologic impacts on the Canadian River ecosystem under future climate change scenarios, in Program of the 2015 Oklahoma Governors Water Conference and Symposium, Norman, Oklahoma, available at: https://www.owrb.ok.gov/GWCmobile/agenda-rs.html.
Frus, Rebecca, Hawbaker, Todd J., Anderson, Patrick, Qi, Sharon, Andrews, William, Monroe, Adrian, Bradford, John, and Dahm, Katharine, 2022, Assessing stakeholder science needs to prioritize integrated drought-related science in the Colorado River Basin, in Program of the Geological Society of America Cordilleran/Rocky Mountain Joint Section Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 15-17, 2022, Session
Frus, R., Anderson, P., Qi, S., Andrews, W., and Dahm, K., 2022, An Innovative Strategy to Assess Colorado River Basin Stakeholder Science Needs Related to Drought: Biennial Conference on Science and Management for the Colorado Plateau & Southwest Region, September 12--15, 2022, Flagstaff, Arizona
Dahm, K.G., Alexander, J., Anderson, E., Anderson, P., Andrews, W., Erxleben, J., Frus, R, Hevesi, J, Horton, R., House, S., Jones, D., Monroe, A., Qi, S., Tillery, A., Thomas, K., and Torregrosa, A., 2022, A new framework for convergent research: Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology (ASIST): 16th Biennial Conference of Science and Management for the Colorado Plateau and Sout
Nagler, P.L., Baretto-Munoz, A., Didan, K., Miller, O., Shafroth, P., Anderson, E.D., Aulenbach, S.M., Andrews, W.J., Dahm, K.G., and Bagstad, K.J., 2022, Building a community for FAIR and integrated modeling using catchments in the Lower Colorado River Basin: 16th Biennial Conference of Science and Management for the Colorado Plateau and Southwest Region, September 12-15, 2022, Flagstaff, Arizona
Dahm, K., Anderson, E., Anderson, P., Andrews, W., Bradford, J., Dick, M., Erxleben, J., Frus, R., House, S., Jones, D., Monroe, A., Qi, S., Tillery, A., Thomas, K., and Torregrosa, A., 2022, Colorado River Basin Integrated Science and Technology: USGS Approach to Convergent Research (Abstract): American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference, September 12-16, 2022, Golden, Colorado.
Dahm, K., Anderson, E., Anderson, P., Andrews, W., Erxleben, J., Frus, R., House, S., Jones, D., Monroe, A., Qi, S., Tillery, A.C., Thomas, K, and Torregrosa, A., 2022, Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology (ASIST): USGS Approach to Convergent Research (Abstract): The Geological Society of America, GSA Connects 2022 Meeting, October 9-12, Denver, Colorado
Godaire, J., Dahm, K., Anderson, P., Andrews, W., Driscoll, J., Frus, R., Hevesi, J., Jones, D, Monroe, A., Thomas, K, Tillery, A., and Torregrosa, A., 2023, An integrated approach to actionable science for drought management in the Colorado River Basin (Abstract): The Geological Society of America, 2023 Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, May 20-26, 2023, Fort Collins, Colorado
Torregrosa, A., Anderson, P.J., Andrews, W., Tillery, A., Dahm, K., Monroe, A., Shipp, A.A., House, S., Qi, S., Frus, R., Driscoll, J.M., Bender, S., Erxleben, J., Anderson, E., and Hevesi, J.A., 2022, Maximizing Stakeholder Voices at the Convergence Research Table (Abstract): American Geophysical Union Annual Conference, December 15, 2022, Chicago, Illinois
Dahm, K., Anderson, E., Alexander, J., Anderson, P.J., Andrews, W., Bender, S., Driscoll, J.M., Erxleben, J., Frus, R., Hevesi, J.A., House, S., Jones, D.K., Monroe, A., Qi, S., Tillery, A., Thomas, K., Torregrosa, A., Thome, D., and Shipp, A.A., 2022, A New Framework for Convergent Research: Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology (ASIST), AGU Annual Conf, 12/15/2022, Chicago I
Godaire, J., Dahm, K., Anderson, P., Andrews, W., Driscoll, J., Frus, R., Hevesi, J., Jones, D, Monroe, A., Thomas, K, Tillery, A., and Torregrosa, A., 2023, An integrated approach to actionable science for drought management in the Colorado River Basin: GSA, 2023 Rocky Mtn. Section Mtg., May 20-26, 2023, Fort Collins, CO, available at: https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2023RM/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/387919
Torregrosa, A., Anderson, E., Anderson, P.J., Andrews, W., and others 2024, When Science and Society Engage: Meeting Colorado River Basin Drought Science Research Needs: AGU 2024 Meeting, December 9-13, 2024, available at: https://agu.confex.com/agu/agu24/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1709045