Gregory W. Characklis

Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
School of Public Health
Rosenau Hall, CB7431
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400
email: charack@email.unc.edu

Full C.V. (pdf)

Education

• Ph.D. Environmental Science and Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1999.

• M.S. Environmental Science and Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1994.

• B.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1989.

Professional Experience

• Director, Center for Watershed Science and Management, Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011-present.
  

• Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, 2007-present.

• Visiting Professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, 2010-2011.

• Associate Editor, Water Resources Research, 2003-2010.

• Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, 2001-2007.

• Director, Resource Development & Management, Azurix Corp., Houston, TX, 1999–2001.

• Fellow, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC, 1997-1999.

• Research Asst., Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1992–1997.

• Visiting Scholar, Van Hall Institute, Groningen, Netherlands, May–July 1994.

• Associate Scientist, EG&G Idaho, Inc., Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), Idaho Falls, ID, 1990–1991.

Honors & Professional Activities

• Task Force, A New Scientific Agenda for the Hydrologic Sciences, International Association of Hydrologic Sciences, 2011-present.
  

• Vice-Chair, Committee on Water and Society, American Geophysical Union, 2011-present.
  

• Fellow, Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, Stanford University, 2011
  

• Co-Chair, Workshop on Integrating Economic and Financial Principles into Environmental Engineering Research and Education, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, January 2011.
  

• Session Co-Chair, Meeting of the European Geosciences Union, 2011, 2012.
  

• Kenan Competitive Research Leave, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010-2011.
  

• Working Group, “Hydrologic Synthesis: Toward a New Research Agenda for Water”, National Science Foundation, 2010-2011.
  

• Chair, AEESP President's Strategic Initiative, "Expanding Opportunities for Environmental Research Using Economic, Financial and Business Entrepreneurship Principles," 2009-2011.
  

• Invited Participant, German-American Frontiers of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering, Potsdam, Germany, April 2009.

• Chair, ASCE Environmental and Water Resource Systems Committee, 2008 (Secretary, 2006; Vice-Chair, 2007; Past-Chair, 2009).
  

• Technical Advisory Committee, North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, 2003; 2006-2008.

• Chair, ASCE Task Committee on Systems Analysis and NSF Environmental Observatories, 2006-2008.

• Session Co-Chair, Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

• Invited Speaker, Frontiers of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering, Irvine, CA, September 2003.

• Fellow, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, D.C., 1997-99.

• Outstanding Doctoral Student, Environmental Science and Eng., Rice University, 1998.

• Hudspeth Graduate Research Award, Delange Conference, Houston, TX, March 1997.

• Graduate Research Award, Water Environment Association, Austin, TX, June 1993.

Publications (superscript indicates student or postdoc working with Dr. Characklis: M = masters; D = doctoral; P = post-doc)

• Characklis, G. W. (2004)."Interface of Water Resource Engineering with Economics and Public Policy", Frontiers of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy Press, pp. 11-18.

• Characklis, G. W. (2003). "Interface of Water Resource Engineering with Economics and Public Policy", The Bridge (Journal of the National Academy of Engineering), Winter, pp. 4-9.

• Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics: Challenges and Opportunities (1999). National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 252 pp.

• Zeff, H.B.^M and G. W. Characklis. “Managing Water Utility Financial Risks through Third-Party Derivative Contracts,” Water Resources Research, (in review).
  

• Kirsch, B. R.^D, Characklis, G. W. and H. B. Zeff^M. “Evaluating the Impact of Alternative Hydro-climate Scenarios on Transfer Agreements: A Practical Improvement for Generating Synthetic Streamflows,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, (in review).
  

• Caldwell, C.^M and G. W. Characklis. “Impact of Contract Structure and Risk Aversion on Inter-utility Water Transfer Agreements,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, (in review).
  

• Kasprzyk, J. R., Reed, P. M., Characklis, G. W. and B. R. Kirsch^D (2011). "Many-Objective de Novo Water Supply Portfolio Planning Under Deep Uncertainty," Environmental Modelling and Software, doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.04.003. (May 6, 2011).
  

• Kern, J. D.^M, Characklis, G. W., Doyle, M. D., Blumsack, S. and R. B. Whisnant (2011). "Influence of De-regulated Energy Markets on Hydropower Generation and Downstream Flow Regime," Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000183.

• Characklis, G. W., Adriaens, P., Braden, J. B., Davis, J., Hamilton, B., Hughes, J. B., Small, M. J. and J. Wolfe (2011), “Increasing the Role of Economics in Environmental Research (or moving beyond the mindset that Economics = Accounting)”, Environmental Science & Technology, 45, pp. 6235-6236.

• Russo, S. A.^M, Hunn, J.^M and G. W. Characklis (2011). "Considering Bacteria-Sediment Associations in Microbial Fate and Transport Modeling," Journal of Environmental Engineering, 137(8), pp. 697-706.
  

• Krometis, L. A.^D, Characklis, G. W., Drummey, P. N.^M and M. D. Sobsey (2010). “Comparison of indicator organism and Salmonella spp. partitioning behavior in an urban watershed," Journal of Water and Health, 8(1), pp. 44-59.
  

• Kasprzyk, J. R., Reed, P. M., Kirsch, B. R.^D, and G. W. Characklis (2009). "Managing Population and Drought Risk Using Many-objective Water Portfolio Planning Under Uncertainty," Water Resources Research, 45, W12401.

• Krometis, L. A.^D, Characklis, G. W. and M. D. Sobsey (2009). “Identification of particle size classes inhibiting protozoan recovery from surface water samples via USEPA Method 1623," Applied Environmental Microbiology, 75(20), pp. 6619-6621.

• Krometis, L. A.^D, Drummey, P. N.^M, Characklis, G. W. and M. D. Sobsey (2009). “The Impact of Microbial Partitioning of Wet Retention Pond Effectiveness," Journal of Environmental Engineering, 135(9), pp. 758-767.
  

• Kirsch, B. R.^D, Characklis, G. W., Dillard, K. E. M. and C. T. Kelley (2009). "More Efficient Optimization of Long-term Water Supply Portfolios," Water Resources Research, 45, W03414.
  

• Palmer, R. N.^M and G. W. Characklis (2009). “Reducing the Costs of Meeting Regional Water Demand Through Risk-based Transfer Agreements,” Journal of Environmental Management, 90, pp. 1703-1714.
  

• Cizek, A. R.^M, Characklis, G. W., Krometis, L. A.^D, Hayes, J. A., Simmons, O. D., DiLonardo, S., Alderisio, K. A. and M. D. Sobsey (2008). "Comparing the Partitioning Behavior of Giardia and Cryptosporidium with that of Indicator Organisms in Stormwater Runoff," Water Research, 42, pp. 4421-4438.
  

• Characklis, G. W. and P. M. Reed (2008). "An Evolving Paradigm for Publication in the Water Resources Management Field," Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 139, pp. 37-40.
  

• Fries, J. S.^P, Characklis, G. W. and R. T. Noble (2008). “Sediment-Water Exchange of Vibrio sp. and Fecal Indicator Bacteria: Implications for Persistence and Transport in the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA,” Water Research, 42, pp. 941-950.

• Fries, J. S.^P, Noble, R. T., Paerl, H. W. and G. W. Characklis (2007). "Particle Suspension as Indicators of Estuarine Water Quality in the Neuse River Estuary," Estuaries & Coasts, 30(2), pp. 359-364.

• LoBuglio, J. N.^D, Characklis, G. W. and M. L. Serre (2007). "Cost-effective Water Quality Assessment through Integration of Monitoring Data and Modeling Results," Water Resources Research, 43(3), W03435.

• Krometis, L. A.^D, Characklis, G. W., Simmons, O. D., Dilts, M. J.^M,  Likirdopulos, C. A.,  and M. D. Sobsey (2007). “Intra-Storm Variability in Microbial Partitioning and Microbial Loading Rates”, Water Research, 41, pp. 506-516.

• Characklis, G. W., Reed, P. M. and B. S. Minsker (2007).  “The Role of Systems Analysis in NSF’s Environmental Observatories,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 133(1), pp. 1-3.

• Fries, J. S.^P, Characklis, G. W. and R. T. Noble (2006). "Attachment of Fecal Indicator Bacteria to Particle Suspensions in Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA," Journal of Environmental Engineering, 132(10), pp. 1338-1345.

• Traviglia, A. M.^M and G. W. Characklis (2006). "Considering Location, Compliance, and Storage in Decisions on Brackish Water Resource Development", Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 132(6), pp. 514-520.

• Kirsch, B. R.^M and G. W. Characklis (2006). "An Equilibrium Approach to Integrating Regional Surface Water Treatment and Limited Groundwater Pumping Capacity", Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 132(6), pp. 444-454.

• Lund, J. R., Cai, X. and G. W. Characklis (2006). “Economic Engineering of Environmental and Water Resource Systems”,  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 132(6), pp. 399-402.

• Characklis, G. W., Kirsch, B. R.^D, Ramsey, J.^M, Dillard, K. E. M. and C. T. Kelley (2006). "Developing Portfolios of Water Supply Transfers", Water Resources Research, 42(5), W05403.

• Characklis, G. W., Dilts, M. J^M, Simmons, O. D., Likirdopulos, C. A., Krometis, L. A.^D, and M. D. Sobsey (2005). "Microbial Partitioning to Settleable Particles in Stormwater", Water Research, 39, pp. 1773-1782.
  

• Characklis, G. W., Griffin, R. C. and P. B. Bedient (2005). "Measuring the Long-term Regional Benefits of Salinity Reduction", Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 30(1), pp. 69-93.

• Characklis, G. W. (2004). "Economic Decisionmaking in the Use of Membrane Desalination for Brackish Supplies", Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 40(2), pp. 615-630.

• Aitken, M. D., Novak, J. T., Characklis, G. W., Jones, K. L., and P. J. Vikesland (2004). "The Evolution of Environmental Engineering as a Professional Discipline", Environmental Engineering Science, 21(2), pp. 117-123.

• Characklis, G. W. and D. J. Richards (1999). "The Evolution of Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics", Corporate Environmental Strategy, 6(4), pp. 324-336.

• Characklis, G. W., Griffin, R. C. and P. B. Bedient (1999). "Improving the Ability of a Water Market to Efficiently Manage Drought", Water Resources Research, 35(3), pp. 823-831.

• Characklis, G. W. and M. R. Wiesner (1997)."Particles, Metals, and Water Quality in Runoff from a Large Urban Watershed", Journal of Environmental Engineering, 123(8), pp. 753-759.

     Book Chapters

• Wiesner, M.R., G.W. Characklis and D. Brejchova,"Metals and Colloids in Urban Runoff", Chapter 2 in Metals in the Environment, ed. H. Allen, A.W. Garrison and G.W. Luther, III. Ann Arbor Press, 1998.

• LoBuglio, J. N.^D, and G. W. Characklis (2010). Burden of Disease from Drinking Water in National Strategy and Action Plan for Environmental Health, United Arab Emirates, MacDonald-Gibson, J. and A. Brammer, Eds., Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health.

• Krometis, L. A.^D, LoBuglio, J. N.^D, MacDonald-Gibson, J. and G. W. Characklis (2010). Burden of Disease from Coastal Water Quality in National Strategy and Action Plan for Environmental Health, United Arab Emirates, MacDonald-Gibson, J. and A. Brammer, Eds., Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health.

• Operating Policies and Administrative Discretion at the John H. Kerr Project (Dam) (2009), Division of Water Resources, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Raleigh, NC.
  

• Watershed Restoration Plan to Address Fecal Coliform Impairment of Northeast Creek in Durham, NC (2009). North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality: TMDL program, Raleigh, NC.
  

• Whisnant, R., Holman, B., Hughes, J. Kleczek, L., Characklis, G. W., Dimmitt, M., LoBuglio, J. N.^D, Schwartz, N., Platt, J., Hughes, S., Eskaf, S., Westbrook, A., Guzman, A., Tate, S., Tiger, M. and H. Polikov (2009). Report of the Water Allocation Study Team. North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, Raleigh, NC.
  

• University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment (2008), Climate Change Committee Report.  Prepared at the request of North Carolina State Senate, Band, L.B. and D. Salvesen, Eds., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
  

• Caldwell, C.^M and G. W. Characklis (2008). “Optimizing Water Supply through Inter-utility Water Transfer Agreements,” North Carolina Urban Water Consortium, Raleigh, NC, pp. 45.
  

• Raucher, R. S., Cromwell, J., Henderson, J., Wagner, C., Rubin, S., Goldstein, J., Huber-Lee, A. ,Young, C., Characklis, G. W. and B. R. Kirsch (2006). "Regional Solutions to Water Supply Provision", American Water Works Association Research Foundation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, IWA Publishing.
  

• Traviglia, A. M.^M and G. W. Characklis (2004)."An Expert System for Decisionmaking in the Use of Desalination for Augmenting Water Supplies", Desalination and Water Purification Research and Development Program, Bureau of Reclamation, U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Denver, June 2004, pp. 41.

• Aitken, M. D., Novak, J. T., Characklis, G. W., Jones, K. L., and P. J. Vikesland (2003)."The Evolution of Environmental Engineering as a Professional Discipline", National Science Foundation/Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, Toronto, Ontario, 23 pp.

• Griffin, R. C. and G. W. Characklis (2002). “Issues and Trends in Texas Water Marketing”, Water Resources Update, 121, pp. 29-33.
  

Funded Projects

• “Portfolio-based Approaches to Managing Climate Uncertainty in Urban Water Planning,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), $300,000, 9/11-8/13, Principal Investigator.
  

• "Integrating Economic and Financial Principles into Environmental Engineering Research and Education," National Science Foundation, $50,000, 9/10 - 8/11, Principal Investigator.

• "Ensuring Water Supply Reliability and Financial Stability for North Carolina Utilities," North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute and North Carolin Urban Water Consortium, $50,000, 03/10 - 06/11, Principal Investigator.

• “Operating Policies and Administrative Procedures Governing Operations of the John H. Kerr Project on the Roanoke River”, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, $74,282, 09/08 – 04/09, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Richard Whisnant).
  

• “Linkage of bacterial pathogens to human infectious disease in an estuary subjected to extreme climatic events”, National Science Foundation, $1,527,139, 9/08 – 08/12, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Rachel Noble). .
  

• “National Strategy for Environment and Health for the United Arab Emirates,” Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, $4,562,312, 6/08 – 5/11, co-investigator (PI: Jacqueline MacDonald).
  

• “North Carolina Water Allocation Study”, North Carolina Environmental Review Commission, $100,000, 1/08 – 12/08, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Richard Whisnant).

• "Promoting North Carolina's Economic Development through Strategic Water Resource Management", North Carolina Research Competitiveness Fund, $246,000, 12/07 – 12/08, Principal Investigator.

• “Evaluating Giardia and Cryptosporidium Partitioning in New York City Water Supply Reservoirs”, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/New York City Department of Environmental Protection, $385,000, 8/06 – 8/07, Principal Investigator.

• "Improved Regional Supply Strategies Using Probability-based Inter-utility Transfer Agreements," Research Triangle Utilities, $80,000, 9/06-7/08, Principal Investigator.

• "Developing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for a Biologically Impaired Waterbody", U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, $200,000, 7/06 – 6/09, Principal Investigator.

• "Identifying the Origins and Attachment Behavior of Non-point Source Microbial Contaminants", North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute/North Carolina Urban Water Consortium, $49,000, 7/05 – 12/06, Principal Investigator.

• "Regional Solutions to Developing Water Supplies", American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) and USEPA, $347,000, 10/03 – 9/05, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Stratus Consulting, Inc.).

• "Reducing the Cost of Maintaining Regional Water Supply Reliability", Progress Energy/NC Urban Water Consortium, $80,000, 6/04 – 6/06, Principal Investigator.

• "Impacts of Anthropogenic Change on the Ecology of Human Pathogens in a Eutrophic Estuary", National Science Foundation/National Institutes of Health, $1,796,000, 9/03 – 8/08, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Crawford-Brown, D.).

• "Impact of Microbial-Particle Interaction on Microbial Fate and Transport in Stormwater", North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, $75,000, 6/03-5/04, Principal Investigator.

• "Drought vulnerability in the Catawba River Basin", Duke Energy Foundation, $100,000, 5/03 – 1/04, co-Principal Investigator (PI: Band, L.).

• "Reducing the Cost of Maintaining Reliability in Regional Water Supplies", IBM/UNC Junior Faculty Development Grant, $5,000, 1/03 – 12/03, Principal Investigator.

• "An Expert System for Decisionmaking in the Use of Desalination for Augmenting Water Supply", U. S. Dept. of Interior/Bureau of Reclamation, $60,000, 9/02 – 6/04, Principal Investigator.

• "Developing a Minimum Cost Portfolio of Water Assets", University Research Council, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $3,900, 5/02 – 4/04, Principal Investigator.

• "Reduced Cost Strategies for Regional Integration of Surface and Ground-water Use", North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, $80,000, 2/02 – 6/04, Principal Investigator.

• "Minimizing Regional Cost of Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater", University Research Council, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $3,900, 12/01 – 11/03, Principal Investigator.

• "Conversion from Conventional Treatment to Microfiltration in a Small Water System", U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, $115,000, 12/01 – 3/03, co-Principal Investigator (PI: DiGiano, F. A.).

Invited Presentations

• Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, January 2012.
  

• Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Institute for Environmental Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland, June 2011.

• Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz (EAWAG-Kastanienbaum Laboratory), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland, May 2011.

• Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, April 2011.
  

• Landolt Chair Symposium, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, March 2011.
  

• Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz (EAWAG), Dubendorf, Switzerland, December 2010.
  

• Latsis Symposium on Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, October 2010.

• School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, October 2010.

• New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY, May 2010.
  

• Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Tech University, April 2010.
  

• Thomson-Reuters Water Markets Workshop, London, UK, November 2009.
  

• École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, November 2009.
  

• Tribute to Bill Glaze, American Chemical Society Meeting, Washington, DC, August 2009.
  

• North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute Advisory Board Meeting, Raleigh, NC, May 2009.
  

• Rotary International, Chapel Hill, NC, May 2009.
  

• Water CAMPWS Series, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2009.
  

• UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands, April 2009.

• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, April 2009.
  

• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 2009.

• Global American South Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, April 2008.

• Current Science Forum, Morehead Planetarium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, December 2007.
  

• Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, November 2007.
  

• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State University, State College, PA, October 2007.
  

• Nicholas School for the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, March 2007.
  

• Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Morehead City, NC, September 2006.
  

• Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), Bozeman, MT, June 2006.

• Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, March 2006.

• College of Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, April 2005.

• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, March 2005.

• Kenan-Flagler Business School, Water and Wastewater Executive Education Program, Chapel Hill, NC, February 2005.

• Dept. of Earth & Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, November 2004.

• Dept. of Geography & Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, November 2004.

• Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, October 2004.

• CONCARIBE Environmental Conference, Cartagena, Colombia, May 2004.

• Kenan-Flagler Business School, Water and Wastewater Executive Education Program, Chapel Hill, NC, February 2004.

• Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, National Academy of Engineering, National Academies Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, September 2003.