NWTRB Board Member
Updated March 13, 2006

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Dr. George M. Hornberger was appointed to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board on September 10, 2004, by President George W. Bush.

Dr. Hornberger is Ernest H. Ern Professor of Environmental Sciences in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Hornberger's work in catchment hydrology and hydrochemistry has centered on the coupling of field observations with mathematical modeling. The focus has been to understand how water is routed through soil and rock to streams and how hydrological processes and geochemical processes combine to produce observed stream dynamics. The modeling work allows the extension of work on individual catchments to regional scales. Dr. Hornberger's work in transport of colloids in geological media involves the processes affecting transport of inorganic colloids and biocolloids (e.g., bacteria) through porous media.

Dr. Hornberger's honors and awards include Virginia Chapter of Sigma Xi President's and Visitor's Prize (1986); Robert E. Horton Award, Hydrology Section, American Geophysical Union (1993); Fellow, American Geophysical Union (1994); Biennial Medal for Natural Systems, Modeling, and Simulation, Society of Australia (1995); John Wesley Powell Award for Citizens' Achievement, U.S. Geological Survey (1995); Fellow, Association for Women in Science (1996); member of the National Academy of Engineering (February 1996); Excellence in Geophysical Education Award, American Geophysical Union (1999); Langbein Lecturer, American Geophysical Union (2002); and Fellow, Geological Society of America (2005).

He has chaired the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the National Research Council (2003 to present); the Publications Committee of the American Geophysical Union (2000 to 2004); the National Research Council Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources (1996 to 2000); the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2001 to 2003); the Board of Journal Editors, American Geophysical Union (1998 to 2000); the Committee to Prepare a Science Plan for a Water-Cycle Initiative (1999 to 2000); and the National Research Council Committee on the Review of EarthScope Science Objectives and Implementation Planning (2001).

Dr. Hornberger was associate editor of Water Resources Research from 1982 to 1984, North American editor of Journal of Hydrological Processes from 1985 to 1992, and editor of Water Resources Research from 1993 to 1997.

He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in 1965, a master's degree in civil engineering (hydrology) from Drexel in 1967, and a Ph.D. in hydrology from Stanford University in 1970.

Dr. Hornberger lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.