Bridget Scanlon facts for kids
Bridget R. Scanlon, born in 1959, is a very important scientist from both Ireland and America. She is a hydrogeologist, which means she studies water found underground. She is well-known for her work on how we use up groundwater (water stored underground) and how we can refill it. She also looks at how climate change and how we use land affect this underground water.
She works at the University of Texas at Austin as a senior research scientist. There, she leads a program that focuses on making sure we have enough water for the future. She has even used information from satellites to compare how dry places like Texas and California are.
Education and Career
Bridget Scanlon grew up in County Kerry, Ireland. She studied geology at Trinity College Dublin, earning her first degree in 1980. After that, she worked for the Geological Survey of Ireland before moving to the United States for more studies.
She earned a master's degree from the University of Alabama in 1983. Her research for this degree was based on her work in the River Maine area in Ireland. She then completed her PhD at the University of Kentucky in 1985. For her PhD, she studied the unique karst landscape (a type of landscape where limestone dissolves, creating caves and sinkholes) in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.
After working briefly for a company, she joined the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1987. Since 2004, she has also taught at the University of Nebraska.
Awards and Recognition
Bridget Scanlon has received many important honors for her work.
- In 2005, she became a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
- In 2015, she became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
- In 2016, she was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for her important contributions to understanding how groundwater refills and how it gets used up.
She was also the 2007 Birdsall–Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer for the Geological Society of America. This society also gave her their 2019 O. E. Meinzer Award. The National Ground Water Association gave her their 2016 M. King Hubbert Award. The International Association of Hydrogeologists gave her their 2018 Presidents' Award.
Scanlon holds a special position at the University of Texas called the William L. Fisher Endowed Chair in Geological Sciences.
