Key Personnel
Michael R. Lilly - President, Hydrologist
Michael has been working in Alaska for more than 20 years on arctic, hydrologic and environmental programs. In recent years, he has also focused in sustainable building and community projects with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. Educational background includes Texas A&M University (BS Geology) and University of Alaska Fairbanks (MS Hydrogeology). Experience includes seven years managing regional hydrology and environmental projects in the Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright area. Since 2002, research and project areas have included a good portion of the North Slope, investigating hydrology, water use and transportation networks supporting oil and gas development. Remote monitoring and data acquisition is a specialty, which includes Internet applications since 1993. Current projects include investigations across the North Slope, Shishmaref, Fairbanks, and Anaktuvuk Pass. Mr. Lilly is a member of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA); US Permafrost Association (USPA), American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). He is also a member of the Alaska Section, AWRA, and Vice-President of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Alaska (ITS-Alaska).
Ron Paetzold, PhD. - Sr. Systems Engineering and Soil Science Advisor
Dr. Paetzold has advanced degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Soil Physics. He began working for GWS in 2005, after retiring from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service where he had more than 33 years active service. During his last ten years with the NRCS, he was the leader of NRCS Soil Climate Team and principal investigator for all international and Alaska soil climate research projects. Dr. Paetzold installed or helped install more than 100 climate stations in Antarctica, Tibet, Mongolia, western China, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and many states, including Alaska. He managed the data and provided annual maintenance on nearly 60 of these stations. Dr. Paetzold has authored or co-authored more than 170 publications.
Austin McHugh - Research Engineer
Austin McHugh joined GWS in 2007. Previously, he has worked with Campbell Scientific, Inc. products since 1987 both at the University of Maine for 2 years then 17 years with Campbell Scientific in Logan, UT. He has strong experience supporting CSI hardware and software. He has also designed and installed many data acquisition and telemetry systems deployed in Maine, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii and Korea. Mr. McHugh has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maine and an A.S. in Electronic Engineering Technology from the New Hampshire Technical Institute.
Jeff Derry - Project Hydrologist
Jeff Derry joined GWS in 2006. Previously, he worked in Antarctica and Greenland since 1995. He has extensive experience managing deep-field camps, conducting scientific experiments and data collection in polar regions, and polar logistics. Mr. Derry has a M.S. in Watershed Science from Colorado State University with an emphasize in snow hydrology and a B.S. in Geography and Environmental Studies from Colorado University at Colorado Springs. Thesis efforts concentrated on snow distributions in the Colorado River Basin. Recent professional focus has been towards collecting and analyzing environmental and water-quality data, snow-distribution analysis, and support of real-time-reporting climate networks.
Jeff Murray - Project Hydrologist
Jeff Murray joined GWS in 2009. He graduated with a Master of Water Management and Hydrologic Sciences from Texas A&M in 2009, and received a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Natural Resources from A&M as well. Jeff recently completed the initial development of a comprehensive, city-wide water conservation study for the City of College Station, Texas, in coordination with Texas A&M University. Jeff is currently working on a project improving the understanding of arctic hydrology and adaptive water-use management on the North Slope, Alaska.
Jeff Bosworth, Sr. - Data Acquisition Specialist
Jeff Bosworth joined GWS in 2010. Jeff has a varied background in data collection, electronics, hybrid power systems and remote radio and satellite telemetry systems.
Technical Staff:
GW Scientific staff includes field and project EIT's engineers, and earth-science fields. Technical specialties include instrumentation, programming and system design, and environmental and facility projects. Students are also included on research projects in conjunction with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Texas A&M University.
Business and Research Partnerships:
GW Scientific works in cooperative projects with Engineering and Environmental Internet Solutions and Restoration Science and Engineering. Cold Climate Housing Research Center is another key research partner, together advancing sustainable northern communities. Other projects involve a variety of cooperative arrangements with state, federal, and local agencies, nonprofits and other private sector companies. Please review our current projects for further information on our current project partnerships.
