John McCray

Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Dr. John McCray’s research focuses on chemical transport in hydrologic systems, and generally utilize some combination of field, laboratory, and modeling work.

His current projects include: current and future sustainability assessment of important watersheds in southern Peru and green infrastructure for treating storm water in urban waterways and developed areas.  Additional projects are characterization of urban water quality with application to urban planning, model development for PFAS fate and transport and nutrient pollution/mitigation in urban and rural waterways.  Dr. McCray’s other research projects are interphase mass-transfer, transport, and remediation of groundwater pollutants (including PFAS transport in vadose zones and groundwater) along with model development for PFAS fate, transport, and remediation.

More Information

• Publications
• CV

Education

• PhD Hydrology and Water Resources, The University of Arizona, 1998.
• MS Environmental Systems Engineering, Clemson University, 1994.
• BS Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1986.

Other Affiliations

• U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board (Environmental Engineering), 2015-2018
• Principal Investigator, ReNUWIt, the NSF Engineering Research Center for Urban Water Reinvention
• Faculty Fellow, Payne Institute for Earth & Environmental Policy
• Former Chair, ASCE National Ground Water Quality Committee
• Associate Editor, Ground Water
• Associate Editor, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
• Board of Directors, Western Alliance for Restoration Management

Awards and Honors

• Fellow, ASCE Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI)
• Fellow, Geological Society of America
• Fulbright Scholar, Chile, 2013
• Rudolph Hering Medal from ASCE for top paper in Environmental Engineering, 2013
• Shimizu Visiting Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013, Stanford University
• Professor of the year AY 12-13, Hydrologic Science & Engineering Program at Mines
• Graduate Student Favorite Instructor, 2010

Selected Publications

Graduate-student and post-doctoral advisees are underlined.

• Venegas-Quiñones, H.L.; García-Chevesich, P.; Valdés-Pineda, R.; Ferré, T.P.A.; Gupta, H.; Groenendyk, D.; Valdés, J.B.; McCray, J.E. and Bakkensen, L., 2024. Creating Sustainable Flood Maps Using Machine Learning and Free Remote Sensing Data in Unmapped Areas, Sustainability, 16(20), 8918; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208918
• Vahedian, F., Silva, J.A.K., Simunek, J. and McCray, J.E., 2024.  Influence of kinetic air-water interfacial partitioning on unsaturated transport of PFAS in sandy soils, Science of the Total Environment, 957, 177420, doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177420
• Rymes, M.N.,   Burgert, K., ^ULong, J., Rasmussen, R.; McBride, E..; Martínez, G;. Martínez, K.; Tejada-Purizcana, T.; Murray, K.E. and McCray, J.E., 2024. Multi-decadal surface water quality database for five watersheds in the Arequipa Region of Southern Peru, J. Data in Brief, in press.
• Vahedian, F., Silva, J.A.K., Simunek, J. and McCray, J.E., 2024.  Impact of tension-driven Flow on the transport of AFFF in unsaturated media, ES&T Water, 10.1021/acsestwater.3c00611
• Tejada-Purizaca, T.R., PA Garcia-Chevesich,P.A., Ticona-Quea, J., Martínez, G., Martínez, K., Morales-Paredes, L., Romero-Mariscal, Arenazas-Rodríguez, A., Vanzin, G., Sharp, J.O. and McCray, J.E., 2024.  Heavy Metal Bioaccumulation in Peruvian Food and Medicinal Products, Foods 13 (5), 762.
• Martínez, G., García-Chevesich, P.A., Guillen, M., Tejada-Purizcana, T. Martinez, K., Ticona, S., Novoa, H. Crespo, J., Holly, E. and McCray, J.E., 2024. Urban Stormwater Quality in Arequipa, Southern Peru: An Initial Assessment, Water 16 (1), 108.
• Quiroz, J.A.,  Garcia-Chevesich, P.A., Martinez, G., Martinez, K., Tejada-Purizaca, T., Murray, K.E. and McCray, J.E., 2023.  Water Resources Evaluation and Sustainability Considering Climate Change and Future Anthropic Demands in the Arequipa Region of Southern Peru, Sustainability, 15(23), 16270; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316270.
• Meeks, J., Mass, S.,  Adgate, J.L., Barton, K., Singha, K., McCray, J.E., Starling, A.P. and Higgins, C.P., 2023.  Estimating historical exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids in security, fountain, and widefield Colorado: use of water-infrastructure blending and toxicokinetic models, Environmental Science Processes & Impacts, DOI: 10.1039/d2em00337f.