2006
O.E. Meinzer Award

Karsten Pruess
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Presented to Karsten Pruess

 Citation by Michael Celia

Today I have the honor, and pleasure, to introduce Karsten Pruess of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, winner of the 2006 O.E. Meinzer Award. For more than 25 years, Karsten has been at the forefront of scientific studies of complex problems involving fluid flow in natural porous media. His research tool of choice has been advanced numerical simulation, using computer codes that he himself has developed, and which he has generously shared with others. Karsten's work has strong scientific content, important practical value, and has impacted and involved many other researchers. His choice as this year's recipient of the Meinzer Award adds prestige to an already very prestigious award.

Karsten earned his PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1972. I guess this explains why he knows so much physics — and thermodynamics! Karsten arrived at LBL in 1975 as a Research Fellow in the Nuclear Theory Group, where he spent the next two years. Then in 1977, he joined the Earth Sciences Division at LBL, and much to our benefit, he has remained in Earth Sciences ever since, working on the "hard" problems in hydrogeology for more than 25 years, producing more than 125 journal papers across a range of important topics, and leading the field of applied scientific computing.

As I have already mentioned, Karsten is the author of the TOUGH2 family of computer codes. TOUGH2 is among the most widely used simulator in the world. At a recent workshop that focused on applications of TOUGH2, the following application areas had entire sessions devoted to them: Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Fracture Flow, Vadose Zone Hydrology, Nuclear Waste, Mining Engineering, Reactive Transport, Environmental Remediation, and Gas Transport. These topics represent virtually all of the important problems in hydrogeology that involve complex fluid flows, and all are being addressed by users of this software. For this contribution alone, I could easily argue that Karsten is deserving of the Meinzer Award. However, even though the TOUGH2 family of codes has certainly been an enormously important contribution, it is only part of what brings us here today. In fact, to me, even more impressive are the scientific studies that Karsten has produced. These studies have provided fundamental scientific insights into the most difficult and important problems that we face in hydrogeology.

Karsten's first hydrogeology research focused on geothermal systems, which was a natural extension of his background in physics. After working on this problem for the better part of a decade, Karsten began to work on other problems involving non-isothermal and multi-phase flow in porous media. These included high-level radioactive waste disposal, steam injection to remove non-aqueous-phase liquid (NAPL) contaminants, multi-phase flow in fractures, the role of preferential flow in unsaturated soils, fundamental numerical simulation methods for multi-phase and unsaturated-zone flow systems, and the incorporation of geochemistry into non-isothermal multi-phase simulations. And most recently, he has been working on the problem of injection of supercritical CO₂ for the purpose of carbon mitigation, where the idea is to capture CO₂ before it is emitted to the atmosphere, and inject it into deep subsurface formations so that it remains out of the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years, or more. Karsten has taken a leading role in the scientific investigations of the hydrogeological aspects of this strategy. He and his coworkers have looked particularly at storage capacities and the influence of subsurface heterogeneities, at possible leakage pathways and their impact on the efficacy of the approach, at geochemical responses of the system and the overall long-term fate of the injected carbon, and at the complex role of phase-change and thermodynamics on possible catastrophic releases to the land surface. It is largely due to the scientific strength of Karsten, and the accumulated body of work that is imbedded in the TOUGH family of codes, that Berkeley has been able to assume a leadership position in the emerging field of geological storage for carbon mitigation. Karsten's is, by far, the best simulation work being done in this field, and it will certainly be used to inform important policy decisions related to climate change.

I will end by commenting that I have had students, postdocs, and even colleagues at Princeton who have contacted Karsten with questions about TOUGH2, and with more general questions about thermodynamics, multi-phase flow, and numerical methods, and Karsten has always taken the time to answer all of their questions, doing so in his usual quiet and unassuming way. I am sure that many others across the country, and across the world, have had the same experience. To me, Karsten embodies the best in research and scientific study: he produces outstanding science, he works on problems that have tremendous societal impacts, and he does so with humility, grace, and quiet confidence. It really is my honor to introduce this year's winner of the O.E. Meinzer Award, Karsten Pruess.

  2006 O.E. Meinzer Award - Response from Karsten Pruess

Thank you, Mike, for this very generous citation. Looking over the list of past recipients, I am greatly humbled to be selected for the Meinzer award. I have always felt that the work I was doing offered its own rewards, plenty of them, nothing more needed, really. When Kip Solomon called me last May about the Meinzer award, this came as a big surprise. Being appreciated by ones professional peers is very gratifying. I am delighted and humbled by this expression of appreciation.

It may come as a shock to this audience, but I never took a class or seminar in any segment of the Earth Sciences. My degree was in physics, with some math and chemistry thrown in, and it was as a young nuclear theorist that I first came to Berkeley in 1975. A couple years later I made a career change. I decided that I wanted to involve myself in a more applied scientific-technical field, and looked around for opportunities at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. During these explorations I ran into Paul Witherspoon, and the rest, as they say, is history. Paul was professor of geological engineering at Berkeley and head of the newly formed Earth Sciences Division. He presided over an operation that at the time was almost exclusively focused on geothermal energy, it was the aftermath of the 1973 oil shock, and what he told me about the challenges and opportunities in this area sounded very seductive. Being trained in a rigorous field of science I did have some concerns, however, about what I might be getting into. These concerns were laid to rest when I met Chin-Fu Tsang, a nuclear physicist like myself, who had made the switch to Earth sciences about a year earlier. Wondering out loud whether Earth sciences was more-or-less driven by “seat of the pants” intuition, Chin-Fu responded with “oh no, we solve differential equations too.” This was rather reassuring to me. So I plunged into geothermal reservoir studies, and I can truthfully say, I never looked back. I continue to be amazed by the intricacy, complexity, and — yes! — beauty of fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical and mechanical processes in these systems, and the subtlety with which mother nature is going about her business. Geothermal systems have remained a passion of mine to this day. In addition to what’s interesting and useful about them in their own right, they provide a rich laboratory to expose you to just about anything that can happen in different contexts underground. I also found that geothermal systems tend to be located in beautiful places, and their study attracts interesting personalities.

There are a great many colleagues, in Berkeley, throughout the U.S. and indeed the world, who have freely given me advice and challenged me throughout my professional life. I would like to especially thank two of my Berkeley colleagues who became my Earth sciences mentors, Paul Witherspoon and Nari Narasimhan. Both happen to be past recipients of the Meinzer award, and I am greatly indebted to them for their patient and cheerful guidance.

Let me conclude with a few brief comments on computer modeling and simulation, my tool and field of choice. I am aware that modeling is viewed with considerable skepticism by some, be they technical people or in some managerial role. I have made a career out of modeling, but please count me in among the skeptics. Computer modeling has often been oversold. It is a powerful tool, but it is only through keen awareness of its limitations and pitfalls that we can distill worthwhile insights and benefits from it. Thank you very much.