The member of the Party Group of China Geological Survey (CGS) Dr. Wang Xiaolie met with Western Kentucky University（WKU）Distinguished Prof. of Hydrogeology Chris Groves , who was one of six recipients of China’s 2016 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award, the top honor for foreign scientists working in China. Dr Wang Xiaolie expressed his warm congratulations on Professor Chris Groves for his receiving the honor, and hoped that cooperation would be enhanced in areas of hydrogelogy,global climate change, ecological environment protection, talent cultivation, and the building of Global Karst Reaserch Center and International Science Initiative of Resources Environmental Effect of Global Karst Dynamic System.

A Picture Taken at the Hall of China Geological Survey

(Image by Gu landing, China Geological Survey)

The awards were presented by President Xi along with other leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

“As someone working in China for more than 20 years, this is the highest honor I can imagine,” said Dr. Groves, Director of the Crawford Hydrology Laboratory within the Applied Research and Technology Program of Western Kenturky University. “My colleagues at the Institute of Karst Geology in Guilin have been incredibly supportive and very gracious in nominating me for this honor.”

“My collaborations with Chinese colleagues have been focused on understanding the hydrogeology, geochemistry and water resources of southwest China’s vast limestone karst regions, among the world’s most extensive and well-developed,” Dr. Groves said. “There have been both basic and applied research questions as there are many interesting geological problems but also a significant water resource challenges for rural people in those areas.”

In 2013, Dr. Groves was a Ministry-level finalist for the China Friendship Award, that country’s highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress.

In November, Dr. Groves was appointed to a second six-year term on the Governing Board of the International Research Center on Karst (IRCK), which is headquartered at the Institute of Karst Geology (IKG), China Geological Survey and is China’s premier government laboratory for the study of karst landscapes, aquifers and water resources.

In addition to water resource research, Dr. Groves and his colleagues are continuing their research on the role karst systems play in the carbon cycle and the complexities of climate change.

“A question that is gaining more attention in recent years concerns rates and processes by which CO₂ gas is being removed from the atmosphere by dissolving of carbonate minerals on the continents,” he said. “We have been working together to improve methods to measure this transfer of carbon from the atmosphere, with an ultimate goal to make improved global estimates.”