Lab Members

Principal Investigator

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Current Graduate Students:

Franklin Ijigade, MSc Student

My name is Franklin Ijigade, a graduate student in the hydrogeology program and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Geography, geology, and the Environment at Illinois State University. I have a BSc in hydrology and an M.Eng. in Water Resources and Environmental from the Federal University of Abeokuta, Nigeria, and the University of Ilorin, respectively. My research interest revolves around modeling integrated water resource systems and developing robust groundwater models for evaluating the impact of land use and climate change as it relates to environmental sustainability. Other interests are geothermal modeling and carbon sequestration. Currently, I am working on developing a reactive transport model within a saturated riparian buffer (SRB) to bridge the knowledge gap on how surface heterogeneities impact the transformation and reduction of nutrient interacting with surface water bodies. Finding this research will enable the optimization of SRB to improve nutrient reduction and stream health conditions.
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Ryan Krakowiak, MSc Student

My name is Ryan Krakowiak and I am a second-year graduate student in the Hydrogeology program. I graduated from Illinois State University in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental systems science and sustainability and a minor in water sustainability. Currently, I am a teaching assistant for the GIS courses GEO303, 304, and 363 here at ISU. My primary interests involve using GIS and remote sensing along with machine learning to study the impacts of climate change to groundwater and surface water. Outside of Felmley Hall, I enjoy riding my bike on long stretches of Constitution Trail. 
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Alex J. Schwarz, MSc Student

I am a second-year graduate student in Illinois State University’s hydrogeology program. For undergraduate school, I went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where I acquired my Bachelors of Science degree in Geology. While there, I also achieved a minor in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), along with a certificate in the same field. After graduation, I moved out to Denver Colorado to work at the Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Brach of the USGS. At the USGS, I worked on a project that involved digitizing historical mine and mineral features on legacy topographical maps using ArcGIS. Currently, my thesis at Illinois State University involves modeling Chlorophyll-a (or algae), using satellite imagery and various machine learning algorithms. The overall goal of my thesis is to streamline a process that allows water resource managers to view the distribution and concentration of algae on freshwater lakes using satellite imagery instead of having to manually go and sample the water. If you ever see me around, feel free to stop me and ask about my work or any questions that you may have!
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Past Group Members:

Andrew Dooley, Hydrogeologist at Braun Intertec

Nnaemeka Nsude, 3D modeler at Geosyntec

Oalaoluwa Oladuji, staff geologist at WSP

Jerome (Jerry) Komas, Consultant at Ramboll

Cavien Satia, hydrogeologist at Genesis Engineering and Red