David Mays, PhD, PE
Professor of Civil Engineering

This page provides citations and links to (a) refereed publications comprising journal articles, proceedings papers, and book chapters, and (b) non-refereed publications comprising proceedings papers, magazine articles, and technical reports. For details on talks (invited and contributed), posters, and seminars, please see my curriculum vitae.  Student co-authors are in bold.

A. REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

27. Roth, E.J., R.M. Neupauer, D.C. Mays, L.J. Sather, J.P. Crimaldi (2020), Wall effect mitigation techniques for experiments with planar walls,  Transport in Porous Media, 132, 423-441, doi: 10.1007/s11242-020-01399-9. LINK

26. Mays, D.C. and T.D. Scheibe (2018), Groundwater contamination, subsurface processes, and remediation methods: Overview of the special issue of Water on groundwater contamination and remediation, Water, 10, 1708; doi:10.3390/w10121708.  LINK

25. Chinnasamy, C.V., W.C. McIntyre, and D.C. Mays (2018), Technical and administrative feasibility of alluvial aquifer storage and recovery on the South Platte River of northeastern Colorado,  Water Policy, 20(4), 841-854. LINK

24. Klingensmith III, W.C. and D.C. Mays (2018), Information content of wastewater flowmeter data before and during a surcharge, Journal of Environmental Engineering, 144(9), 05018004. LINK

23. Zivkovich, B.R. and D.C. Mays (2018), Predicting nonpoint stormwater runoff quality from land use, PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0196782.  LINK

22. McIntyre, W.C. and D.C. Mays (2017), Roles of the water court and the State Engineer for water administration in Colorado, Water Policy, wp2017145; doi:10.2166/wp.2017.145.  LINK

21. Roth, E.J., B. Gilbert, and D.C. Mays (2015), Colloid deposit morphology and clogging in porous media: Fundamental insights through investigation of deposit fractal dimension, Environmental Science and Technology, 49(20), 12263-12270.  LINK

20. Roth, E.J., M.E. Mont-Eton, B. Gilbert, T.C. Lei, and D.C. Mays (2015), Measurement of colloidal phenomena during flow through refractive index matched porous media, Review of Scientific Instruments, 86, 113103, doi:10.1063/1.4935576.  LINK

19. Sanchez II, N. and D.C. Mays (2015), Effect of methane leakage on the greenhouse gas footprint of electricity generation, Climatic Change, 133(2), 169-178.  LINK

18. Neupauer, R.M. and D.C. Mays (2015), Engineered injection and extraction for in situ remediation of sorbing solutes in groundwater, Journal of Environmental Engineering, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0000923, 04014095, 1-12. LINK

17. Krauss, E.D. and D.C. Mays (2014), Modification of the Kozeny-Carman equation to quantify formation damage by fines in clean unconsolidated porous media, SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering, 17(4), 466-472. LINK

16. Neupauer, R.M., J.D. Meiss, and D.C. Mays (2014), Chaotic advection during engineered injection and extraction in heterogeneous porous media, Water Resources Research, 50(2), 1433-1447. LINK

15. Piscopo, A.N., R.M. Neupauer, and D.C. Mays (2013), Engineered injection and extraction to enhance reaction for improved in situ remediation, Water Resources Research, 49(6), 3618-3625. LINK

14. Mays, D.C. and R.M. Neupauer (2013), Reply to Comment by D.R. Lester et al. on "Plume spreading in groundwater by stretching and folding," Water Resources Research, 49(2), 1192-1194. LINK

13. Rhodes, E.P., Z.J. Ren, and D.C. Mays (2012), Zinc leaching from tire crumb rubber, Environmental Science and Technology, 46(23), 12856-12863.  LINK

12. Mays, D.C. and R.M. Neupauer (2012), Plume spreading in groundwater by stretching and folding, Water Resources Research, 48, W07501, doi:10.1029/2011WR011567. LINK COMMENT  REPLY

11. Manga, M., I. Beresnev, E.E. Brodsky, J.E. Elkhoury, D. Elsworth, S. Ingebritsen, D.C. Mays, and C.-Y. Wang (2012), Changes in permeability by transient stresses: Field observations, experiments, and mechanisms, Reviews of Geophysics, 50, RG2004, doi:10.1029/2011RG000382. LINK

10. Coughlin, J.P., C.D. Campbell and D.C. Mays (2012), Infiltration and clogging by sand and clay in a pervious concrete pavement system,  Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 17(1), 68-73. LINK

9. Mays, D.C., O.T. Cannon, A.W. Kanold, K.J. Harris, T.C. Lei, and B. Gilbert (2011), Static light scattering resolves colloid structure in index-matched porous media, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 363, 418-424.  LINK

8. Mays, D.C. (2010), Contrasting clogging in granular media filters, soils, and dead-end membranes, Journal of Environmental Engineering, 136(5), 475-480. LINK

7. Mays, D.C. (2010), One-week module on stochastic groundwater modeling, Journal of Geoscience Education, 58(2), 73-81. LINK

6. Mays, D.C. (2007), Using the Quirk-Schofield diagram to explain environmental colloid dispersion phenomena, Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 36, 45-52. LINK

5. Mays, D.C. and J.R. Hunt (2007), Hydrodynamic and chemical factors in clogging by montmorillonite in porous media, Environmental Science and Technology, 41(16), 5666-5671. LINK

4. Mays, D.C. and J.R. Hunt (2005), Hydrodynamic aspects of particle clogging in porous media, Environmental Science and Technology, 39(2), 577-584. LINK ERRATA

3. Mays, D.C., B.A. Faybishenko and S. Finsterle (2002), Information entropy to measure temporal and spatial complexity of unsaturated flow in heterogeneous media, Water Resources Research, 38(12), 1313, doi:10.1029/2001WR001185. LINK

2. Mays, D.C. and B.A. Faybishenko (2000), Washboards in unpaved highways as a complex dynamic system, Complexity, 5(6), 51-60. LINK

1. Mays, D.C. and S.J. Veenis (1998), Matrix approach to contaminant transport potential, Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste Management, 2(3), 120-122. LINK

Proceedings Papers

1. Mays, D.C. and R.M. Neupauer (2017), Chaotic advection and unsteady flow in groundwater remediation, Waste Management Symposium 2017: Building Global Trust in Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management, Phoenix, Arizona, March 5-9, 2017.

Book Chapters

5. Mays, D.C. (2013), Clogging in managed aquifer recharge: Flow, geochemistry, and clay colloids, in Martin, R., ed., Clogging Issues Associated with Managed Aquifer Recharge Methods, International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Commission on Managing Aquifer Recharge, Australia, 14-24. LINK

4. Chan Hilton, A.B., J.W. Lauer, D.C. Mays, R.M. Neupauer, A. Sciortino (2012), Resources for teaching water resources, Chapter 7 in Chan Hilton, A.B. and R.M. Neupauer, eds., H2Oh! Classroom Demonstrations for Water Concepts, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 129-134. LINK

3. Kanold, A.W. and D.C. Mays (2012), Porosity, Section 5.1 in Chan Hilton, A.B. and R.M. Neupauer, eds., H2Oh! Classroom Demonstrations for Water Concepts, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 99-100. LINK

2. Mays, D.C. (2012), Atmospheric water, Section 4.1 in Chan Hilton, A.B. and R.M. Neupauer, eds., H2Oh! Classroom Demonstrations for Water Concepts, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 72-74. LINK

1. Mays, D.C. (2012), NAPL ganglia, Section 5.9 in Chan Hilton, A.B. and R.M. Neupauer, eds., H2Oh! Classroom Demonstrations for Water Concepts, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 115-116. LINK

B. NON-REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

Proceedings Papers

16. Greene, J.A., R.M. Neupauer, M. Ye, J.R. Kasprzyk, D.C. Mays, and G.P. Curtis (2017), Engineered injection and extraction for remediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017: Groundwater, Sustainability, and Hydro-Climate/Climate Change, Dunn, C.N. and Van Weele, B., eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Virginia, 111-118. LINK

15. Ritsch, C., R.M. Neupauer, and D.C. Mays (2017) Naturally-occurring chaotic advection in groundwater and surface-water systems, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017: Groundwater, Sustainability, and Hydro-Climate/Climate Change, Dunn, C.N. and Van Weele, B., eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Virginia, 102-110. LINK

14. Piscopo, A.N., J.R. Kasprzyk, R.M. Neupauer, and D.C. Mays (2014), An iterative approach to many objective engineering design: Balancing conflicting objectives for engineered injection and extraction, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2014: Water Without Borders, Huber, W.C., ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 1826-1833. LINK

13. Neupauer, R.M. and D.C. Mays (2014), Engineered injection and extraction for in situ remediation of sorbing contaminants in aquifers, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2014: Water Without Borders, Huber, W.C., ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 227-234. LINK

12. Krauss, E.D. and D.C. Mays (2013), Modification of the Kozeny-Carman equation to quantify formation damage by fines in clean unconsolidated porous media, in European Formation Damage Conference and Exhibition, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Noordwijk, Netherlands, June 5-7, 2013. LINK

11. Piscopo, A.N., J.R. Kasprzyk, R.M. Neupauer, and D.C. Mays (2013), Many-objective algorithm to optimize contaminant degradation during in situ remediation by engineered injection and extraction, in Modflow and More 2013, Integrated Groundwater Modeling Center, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, June 2-5, 2013. PDF

10. Neupauer, R.M., B.D. Webber, A.N. Piscopo, D.C. Mays (2013), Enhanced in-situ remediation of sorbing groundwater contaminants using engineered injection and extraction, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2013: Showcasing the Future, Patterson, C.L., S.D. Struck, and D.J. Murray, Jr., eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 433-439. LINK

9. Piscopo, A.N., J. Kasprzyk, R.M. Neupauer and D.C. Mays (2013), Many-objective design of engineered injection and extraction sequences for in situ remediation of contaminated groundwater, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2013: Showcasing the Future, Patterson, C.L., S.D. Struck, and D.J. Murray, Jr., eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 486-493. LINK

8. Mays, D.C., R.M. Neupauer, and K.H. Kulha (2012), Comparison of chaotic flows for plume spreading in aquifers, in Computational Methods in Water Resources, CMWR 2012, XIX International Conference, June 17-21, 2012, Valocchi, A.J., ed., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 735-740. LINK

7. Piscopo, A.N., D.C. Mays and R.M. Neupauer (2012), Engineered well injection-extraction schemes to enhance reaction for improved in-situ remediation of contaminated groundwater, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2012: Crossing Boundaries, E.D. Loucks, ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 70-75. LINK

6. Piscopo, A.N., R.M. Neupauer and D.C. Mays (2011), Contrasting advective spreading and dispersive mixing, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2011: Bearing Knowledge for Sustainability, R.E. Beighley II and M.W. Killgore, eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 954-961. LINK

5. Chipman, J.B., J. Hendrikx, and D.C. Mays (2010), The value of international collaborations in understanding how climate change affects water supplies from snow dominated catchments, in Watershed Management 2010: Innovations in Watershed Management under Land Use and Climate Change, K.W. Potter and D.K. Frevert, eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 126-134. LINK

4. Mays, D.C. and R.M. Neupauer (2010), Engineered well injection and extraction to enhance mixing in aquifers, in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2010: Challenges of Change, R.N. Palmer, ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 715-722. LINK

3. Radabaugh, C.R., D.C. Mays and R.M. Neupauer (2009), Groundwater mixing using pulsed dipole injection/extraction wells, in  World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009: Great Rivers, Steve Starrett, ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 1730-1734. LINK

2. Mays, D.C., B.A. Faybishenko and S. Finsterle (2002), Information entropy to measure temporal and spatial complexity of unsaturated flow in heterogeneous media, in  Bridging the Gap Between Measurement and Modeling in Heterogeneous Media, A.N. Findikakis, ed., International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research, Madrid, Spain. PDF

1. Veenis, S.J. and D.C. Mays (1998), Systematic approach to evaluate erosion potential at environmental restoration sites, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Decommissioning and Decontamination and on Nuclear and Hazardous Waste Management [SPECTRUM '98], American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL, 936-941. PDF

Magazine Articles

2. Mays, D.C. (2007), Soil fines: Small particles with a big impact, CSA News, 52(6), 34. PDF

1. Mays, D.C. (1997), Tau Beta Pi arrives in Cajun Country, Bulletin of Tau Beta Pi, March 1997, 1-2. PDF

Technical Reports

5. Mays, D.C. (2015), User manual for Matlab GUI plume stretching and folding, Hydrologic Sciences Program, U.S. National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.  PDF

4. Mays, D.C. (2013), Linking deposit morphology and clogging in subsurface remediation, Final Technical Report, Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC. PDF

3. Mays, D.C., Z.J. Ren and E.P. Rhodes (2011), Trash to treasure: Using crumb rubber from recycled tires for storm water pollution control, Final Evaluation Report, Advanced Technology Fund Research Grant, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, Colorado. PDF

2. Gee, J.A., D.C. Mays, Z. Ren, and E.P. Rhodes (2009), Using crumb rubber from recycled tires for storm water pollution control: Regulation summary and market report, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, Colorado.  PDF

1. Dankenbring, S.C. and D.C. Mays (2009), Catchment discretization in the Colorado Urban Hydrograph Procedure: A case study in the East Toll Gate Creek watershed, Arapahoe County, Colorado, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, Denver, Colorado.  LINK

updated 4/5/2020

Research

Over the last few years, my group has been active in three areas: (a) permeability, colloids, and fractals; (b) plumes, spreading, and chaos; and (c) environmental hydrology in Colorado. The common thread through most of this research is my primary expertise in flow through porous media: Aquifers, soils, and granular media filters. 

A. Permeability, Colloids, and Fractals

Clogging, a detrimental reduction in permeability, is a concern for essentially any technology involving flow in porous media. Several lines of evidence suggest that colloidal phenomena, related to fines between 1 nm and 10 μm, play a crucial role in clogging. Accordingly, my research in this area comprises both basic science and engineering applications. The centerpiece of the basic science is a novel static light scattering (SLS) apparatus that allows real-time measurement of colloid deposit morphology as a fractal dimension. Engineering applications comprise petroleum formation damage, aquifer storage and recovery, geothermal energy, and clogging of pervious concrete pavements. For more details, please visit my page on permeability.

B. Plumes, Spreading, and Chaos

Groundwater remediation takes place largely at the interface between an injected plume of treatment solution and contaminated groundwater, but there is a fundamental physical limitation because flow in aquifers is laminar. In essence, the pot needs stirring, but the pot is full of porous media. To address this limitation, the fluid mechanics literature indicates that optimal spreading results from chaotic flows. For more details, including videos and a graphical user interface (GUI) where you can create your own chaotic flows, please visit my page on plume spreading.

C. Environmental Hydrology in Colorado

This area comprises several interlocking research projects, mostly suggested by inquisitive graduate students, that explore various aspects of Colorado hydrology with particular attention to environmental considerations:

Analysis and prevention of sanitary sewer surcharge (Klingensmith and Mays 2018)

Predicting stormwater runoff quality from land use (Zivkovich and Mays 2018)

History of water rights in Colorado (McIntyre and Mays 2017)

Leakage and the carbon footprint of natural gas (Sanchez and Mays 2015)

Zinc leaching from tire crumb rubber (Rhodes et al. 2012)

updated 6/18/2018

This page highlights some of my service inside and outside the university. For complete details, please consult my curriculum vitae.

Program Leader, Hydrologic, Environmental, and Sustainability (HESE) Graduate Track, Department of Civil Engineering, 2019-present.

 

Assessment Coordinator, Department of Civil Engineering, 2014-present.

 

Member, University Curriculum Committee, 2018-present.

 

Peer Reviewer, various funding agencies and technical journals, 2005-present

 

updated 7/24/2020

Course Materials

• CVEN 3313 Fluid Mechanics
• CVEN 3414 Water Supply and Distribution Systems
• CVEN 4426 Pipe Network and Sewer Design
• CVEN 5333 Surface Water Hydrology
• CVEN 5334 Groundwater Hydrology
• CVEN 5335 Vadose Zone Hydrology
• CVEN 5426 Pipe Network and Sewer Design
• Mays Exam Policy

Scholarship of Teaching

• Using Quirk-Schofield diagrams to explain colloid dispersion (Mays 2007)
• One-week module on stochastic groundwater modeling (Mays 2010)
• Classroom demonstration on atmospheric water (Mays 2012)
• Classroom demonstration on porosity (Kanold and Mays 2012)
• Classroom demonstration on non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) ganglia (Mays 2012)
• Resources for teaching water resources (Chan Hilton et al. 2012)

Excellence in Water Resources Education

From 2008-2013, I served on the Excellence in Water Resources Education Task Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This committee wrote, tested, and published a book of classroom demonstrations for water concepts that sold over 330 copies in its first year of publication (Chan Hilton and Neupauer 2012).

updated 1/7/2022

Funding Awards

Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands Scholarship Program (PI), National Science Foundation, Scholarships for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM), $1,000,000 from 2018-2023.

NSF INCLUDES DDLP: Building a network for education and employment in environmental stewardship of indigenous lands (co-PI), National Science Foundation, Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES), $298,484 from 2018-2019.

Hydrologic and microbiological impacts of sealing abandoned mines with bulkheads (PI), University of Colorado Denver, Office of Research Services, $24,000 from 2017-2018.

Collaborative research: Coupled numerical and laboratory investigations of chaotic advection to enhance spreading and reaction in three-dimensional, heterogeneous porous media (PI), U.S. National Science Foundation, Hydrologic Sciences Program, $90,626 (plus $493,443 to collaborators) from 2014-2018.

Collaborative research: Injection and extraction schemes for improved in situ remediation (PI), U.S. National Science Foundation, Hydrologic Sciences Program, $98,395 (plus $256,197 to collaborators) from 2011-2014.

Linking deposit morphology and clogging in subsurface remediation (PI), U.S. Department of Energy, Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Program, $150,000 from 2011-2013.

Trash to treasure: Using crumb rubber from recycled tires for stormwater pollution control (PI), Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Advanced Technology Grant Program, $96,600 from 2009-2011.

In situ measurement of deposit morphology in porous media (co-PI), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, $50,000 from 2007-2011.

Sustainable concrete bacterial filtration system for developing communities (co-PI), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, P3 Awards, $10,000 from 2006-2007.

ASCE Awards

Jaqueline Arcaris Civil Engineering Scholarship, from the Colorado Section ASCE to student Philip Taylor, 2018.

1st Place in Pre-Design, 2017-2018 Pre-Design Team, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Rapid City, South Dakota, April 5-7, 2018.

1st Place in Mystery Design, to the team including student Nathan Werner, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Rapid City, South Dakota, April 5-7, 2018.

3rd Place in Steel Bridge Display, 2016-2017 Steel Bridge Team, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 4-8, 2017.

Outstanding Faculty Advisor, Region 7, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2016.

Younger Members Group Scholarship, from the Colorado Section ASCE to student Todd Santee, 2016.

1st place in Stiffness, 2014-2015 Steel Bridge Team, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 9-11, 2015.

1st Place in Mystery Design, to the team including studentFernando Molina, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Ft. Collins, Colorado, April 3-5, 2014.

2nd place in Steel Bridge Display, 2013-2014 Steel Bridge Team, Rocky Mountain Student Conference, Ft. Collins, Colorado, April 3-5, 2014.

Teaching Awards

Outstanding Faculty in Teaching, University of Colorado Denver, College of Engineering and Applied Science, 2014.

Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Colorado Denver, College of Engineering and Applied Science, 2009.

ExCEEd Teaching Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2007.

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, University of California Berkeley, 2000.