Stanley Grant, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

University of California, Irvine

Abstract:

Climate change and population growth impact urban water demand over timescales (decades to centuries) that are difficult to plan for and manage. Over the past 76 years water demand in Melbourne (Australia) transitioned between two states, one in which demand scales linearly with water storage, and another in which demand is constant. Transition between states occurred when extreme events (major droughts and significant infrastructure upgrades) drove water storage across predictable thresholds. These insights provide a much-needed theoretical framework for long-term water demand forecasting, and hint at strategies cities can adopt to mitigate freshwater scarcity.

Bio:

Dr. Stanley Grant is a Professor in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering (primary) and Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (courtesy) at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Grant is also a Visiting Chair of Hydrology and Water Resources in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Dr. Grant received his B.S. with distinction in Geology from Stanford University in 1985; and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science (with a minor in Applied Biology) in 1989 and 1992, respectively, from the California Institute of Technology. His professional interests include drinking water supply and water quality, coastal water quality, environmental dispersion of pathogens, and fate and transport modeling.

Dr. Grant’s journal articles have been cited over 1000 times, and several of his articles have been written about in scientific (Environmental Science and Technology, Chemical and Engineering News) and lay (US News and World Report, Scientific American, National Public Radio’s ‘All Things Considered’, Los Angeles Times) publications. His former PhD and post-doctoral students are professors at research universities (Stanford University, University of Mississippi, Ohio State University, California State University Long Beach, and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology), environmental scientists (Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Korea Environmental Institute) and professional engineers (Q-Rapha, Inc., Ambryx, WorleyParsons). Professor Grant served on the US EPA’s Science Advisory Board (Drinking Water Panel, Science and Technological Achievement Awards Panel) from 2000 to 2009, and is a frequent reviewer and panelist for research journals and funding agencies.

In 2013, Professor Grant and his team were awarded a five-year $4.8M grant from the National Science Foundation to study the technologies and policies put in place by Australia during the Millennium Drought, and their potential adoption in the Southwest U.S. to mitigate future water supply shortages.