The Groundwater Section at the Illinois State Water Survey is pleased to welcome three new scientists to help with the research and service work we are doing.

Cecilia Cullen is a newly minted Master’s of Science degree recipient from the University of Illinois’ Geology Department. Her Master’s project investigated, through numerical modeling, whether groundwater flow could have contributed to developing river networks in low-relief areas (like Illinois) following a glaciation period. She completed her undergraduate degree in geoscience at Penn State and collaborated in research studies about how arsenic levels in river sediments are affected by drought periods and how climate change could impact rural communities that rely on seasonal glacial meltwater as a water source. At the Water Survey, she will be involved with addressing water issues in Will County and assisting in the creation of a state-wide groundwater model. 

Allan Jones earned a Ph.D. in Hydrogeology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017, and his undergraduate degree is in Environmental Geosciences at the University of Notre Dame. Allan’s graduate career took an unconventional track; he spent his first two years in Austin, TX, finished his coursework, then completed his dissertation from Portland, OR (due to his primary advisor switching institutions). Allan’s research experiences have taken him all over the world – from the Australian Outback, to the slopes of Mt. Adams in Washington, to the coastal delta islands of the Wax Lake Delta in Louisiana. At the Water Survey, Allan is transitioning from coastal surface water hydrology to groundwater modeling.

Mike Krasowski recently graduated from the University of Iowa with a Master’s of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geology from the University of Illinois. Mike’s background is in hydrological modeling with interests in projects at the intersection of water, society, the environment, and policy. At the Survey he will be involved in ongoing projects in water supply planning. In his free time he likes to read, play video games, bike, garden, and go rock climbing.