John McCray

Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

MCCRAY-3-300x300 John McCrayProfessor  McCray’s research focuses on chemical transport in hydrologic systems, and generally utilize some combination of field, laboratory, and modeling work. Current projects include: current and future sustainability assessment of important watersheds in southern Peru; green infrastructure for treating storm water in urban waterways and developed areas; characterization of urban water quality with application to urban planning; model development for PFAS fate and transport; nutrient pollution and mitigation in urban and rural waterways; interphase mass-transfer, transport, and remediation of groundwater pollutants, including PFAS transport in vadose zones and groundwater; model development for PFAS fate, transport, and remediation.

Contact

Chauvenet Hall 126
303-273-3490
jmccray@mines.edu

More Information

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.

  • Gefell, M.J., Huang, H., Opdyke, H., Gustafson K., Dimitri Vlassopoulos, D., McCray, J.E. Sam Best, S., Carey, M., 2022.  Modeling PFAS Fate and Transport in Groundwater, With and Without Precursor Transformation, Ground Water, 63(1), doi: 10.1111/gwat.13152

  • Pilone, F.G., Garcia-Chevesich, P.A., McCray, J.E., 2021 Urban Drool water quality in Denver, Colorado: pollutant occurrences and sources in dry-weather flows, Water13, 3436. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233436

  • Gustafason, K.E., Garcia-Chevesich, P., Slinski K., Sharp, J.O., McCray, J.E., 2021.  Quantifying the effects of residential infill redevelopment on urban stormwater quality in Denver, Colorado, Water, 13(7), 988; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13070988

  • Spahr, K.M., Smith, J.M., McCray, J.E., Hogue, T.S., 2021.  Reading the green landscape: Public attitudes towards green stormwater infrastructure and the perceived non-monetary value of its co-benefits in three US cities. ASCE J. Sustainable Water Built Environ., in press.

  • Gilliom, R.L.; Bell, C.D.; Hogue, T.S.; McCray, J.E. 2019. A rainwater harvesting accounting tool for water supply availability in Colorado. Water, 11, 2205.
  • Wei, X., Garcia-Chevesich, P., et al., Krahenbuhl, R., McCray, J.E., 2021. Hydrologic analysis of an intensively irrigated area in southern Peru using a crop-field scale framework, Water, 13, 318.
  • Silva, J.K., Simunek, J., McCray, J.E., 2020.  A Modified HYDRUS model for simulating PFAS transport in the vadose zone, Water, 2(10), 2758.
  • Kanno, C.M., McCray, J.E., 2021.  Evaluating potential for groundwater contamination from surface spills associated with unconventional oil and gas production: Methodology and application to the South Platte alluvial aquifer,  Water, 13(3), 353.
  • Herzog, S.P., Eisenstein, W.A., Halpin, B.N., Portmann, A.C., Fitzgerald, N.J. Ward, A.S., Higgins, C.P., McCray, J.E., 2019, Co-design of engineered hyporheic zones to improve in-stream stormwater treatment and facilitate regulatory approval, Water, 11(12), 2543
  • Guelfo, J.L., Wunsch, A., McCray, J.E., Stults, J.F., Higgins, C.P., 2020.  Subsurface transport of perfluoroalkyl Acids (PFAAs):  Column experiments and modeling, J. Contam. Hydrol., 233.
  • Herzog, S.P., Higgins, C.P., McCray, J.E., 2016. Engineered streambeds for induced hyporheic flow: Enhanced removal of nutrients, pathogens, and metals from urban streams, J. Environ. Engrng 142 (1), 04015053.
  • Peter, K.T., Herzog, S.P., Tian, Z., Wu, C., McCray, J.E., Lynch, K., Kolodziej, E.P. 2019.  Removal of emerging organic contaminants in an engineered hyporheic zone: Characterization using tracer tests and high-resolution mass spectrometry, Water Research, 150, 140-152
  • Ruybal, C. J.,  Hogue, T. S., &  McCray, J. E., 2019.  Evaluation of groundwater levels in the Arapahoe aquifer using spatiotemporal regression kriging. Water Resources Research, 55.
  • Panos, C.L., Hogue, T.S.; Gilliom, R.L., McCray, J.E., 2018.  High-resolution modeling of infill development impact on stormwater dynamics in Denver, Colorado, J. Sustainable Water Built Environ. 4(4).
  • Rust, A.J., Saxe, S., McCray J.E., Rhoades, C.C, Hogue, T.S., 2019.  Evaluating the Factors Responsible for Post-Fire Water Quality Response in Forests of the Western USA, International J. Wildland Fire, 28(10)
  • Rodríguez-Jeangros, N., A.S. Hering, J.E. McCray, 2018.  Analysis of anthropogenic, climatological, and morphological  influences on dissolved organic matter in rocky mountain streams, Water, 10(4), 534.
  • Gottschalk, I. P., T. Hermans, R. Knight, J. Caers, D. A. Cameron, J. Regnery, and J. E. McCray, 2017.  Integrating non-colocated well and geophysical data to capture subsurface heterogeneity at an aquifer recharge and recovery site. J. Hydrology, 555.
  • Bearup, L.A, Maxwell, R.M, Clow, D.W, McCray, J.E., 2014. Transpiration loss in beetle-impacted watersheds increases groundwater input to streamflow, Nature Climate Change, 4, 481–486.
  • Mikkelson, K.M., Dickenson, E., McCray, J.E., Maxwell, R.M., and Sharp, J.O., 2013. Water quality impacts from climate-induced forest die-off, Nature Climate Change, 3, 218-222.
  • Kopytkovskiy, M., Geza, M., McCray, J.E., 2014, Climate-change impacts on water resources and hydropower potential in the Upper Colorado River Basin, J. Hydrology: Regional Studies, 3, 473-493, doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.02.014.
  • McKenzie, E.R., Siegrist, R.L., McCray, J.E., Higgins, C.P., 2015. Perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) fate and transport in NAPL-contaminated porous media with chemical oxidation remediation, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 1681−1689.
  • Lawrence, J.E., Skold, M.E., Hussain, F.A., Silverman, D.R., Resh, V.H., Sedlak, D.L., Luthy, R.G., McCray, J.E., 2013.   Hyporheic zone management in urban streams: A review and opportunities for enhancing water quality and improving aquatic habitat by active management, Environmental Engineering Sci., 30(8), 480-501.
  • Silva, J., Liberatore, M. McCray, J.E., 2013. Characterization of bulk fluid and transport properties for simulating polymer-improved aquifer remediation, ASCE J. Environ. Engr., 139(2), 149-159.  Winner of the Rudolph Hering Medal from ASCE for Best Paper in Environmental Engineering in 2013.