2008 Legend

Bill Woessner

University of Montana

Dr. William (“Bill”) W. Woessner, arrived in Montana in 1975 as a hydrogeologist for the Northern Cheyenne Research Project. Working out of Lame Deer, MT, he led a team that examined potential effects of energy development on groundwater and surface -water quality and quantity. He also served as part-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain College and worked on his PhD (1978) in Geology (Hydrogeology) at University of Wisconsin, Madison. After serving as an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Nevada System’s Water Resources Center of the Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada and as a liaison with the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Bill finally settled in as a faculty member of the University of Montana, Department of Geology in 1981. As a faculty member Bill has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Groundwater Research, University of Waterloo, Ontario, spent five terms on the faculty senate, has been a member of three committees of the National Research Council, and was named Regents’ Professor at the University of Montana in 2004.

At this writing, Bill has published over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, given in excess of 200 presentations to scholarly societies, co-authored a widely-used text on groundwater modeling (Applied Groundwater Modeling), and continues to serve on numerous national and international advisory and oversight committees dealing with groundwater science and management. In 2005, he was selected as the Geological Society of America’s Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer in Hydrogeology. Last year he was recognized with the John Hem Excellence in Science and Engineering Award presented by the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers Membership Division of the National Ground Water Association. However, with all of these achievements, perhaps Bill’s greatest has been education and mentoring a series of undergraduate, MS and PhD students who have contributed greatly to the understanding and responsible management of Montana’s surface water and groundwater resources. Montana is blessed with many talented water-resource professionals, but it’s difficult to find one who has accomplished more as a distinguished scholar, remarkable educator, and friend to all who know him. For these reasons, and in recognition of his dedicated service to Montana and our organization, Professor Bill Woessner is recognized as a Montana Section AWRA Water Legend.