A special presentation will be given by a guest speaker during the banquet lunch on Thursday, October 8, 2026. The banquet and presentation is part of the conference registration. This presentation will also be submitted to the New York State Council of Professional Geologist as PDH credits.

Michael Sukop, PhD, PG, CHg

Florida International University

Biography

Michael Sukop is professor of hydrogeology in the Department of Earth and Environment and the Institute of Environment at Florida International University in Miami, where he has taught and conducted research since 2003. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a licensed professional geologist, and a certified hydrogeologist in California. He was selected as the 2026 Birdsall-Dreiss/LaMoreaux distinguished lecturer by the Geological Society of America’s Hydrogeology Division.

He principally works on groundwater issues in Southeast Florida, including saltwater intrusion, septic systems, injection wells, and groundwater inundation. He has expertise in groundwater and solute transport modeling, especially as they apply to seawater intrusion and the physics of the Biscayne Aquifer. He co-authored Version 4 of the popular SEAWAT model for seawater intrusion. He is the author of 2 books on Lattice Boltzmann computational fluid dynamics modeling.

His team is currently implementing the coastal subsurface monitoring network for Southeast Florida.

Thomas Reimann, PhD

Technische Universität Dresden

Biography

Thomas Reimann is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Groundwater Management at Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), Germany. With nearly 20 years of experience, Thomas’ work focuses on groundwater engineering, often in combination with distributed numerical models in different environments, e.g., karst systems and groundwater management in open-pit lignite mining. He received a diploma in water management with a focus on groundwater engineering from TU Dresden in 2003. In 2012, he was awarded the degree of Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) in groundwater management by TU Dresden for his research on karst systems.

Thomas is a specialist in applying and adapting distributed numerical models for use in research and industry. He enhanced the distributed numerical discrete-continuum model MODFLOW Conduit Flow Process (CFP) with various boundary conditions, as well as flow and transport processes in CFPv2. Current research projects comprise karst system characterization using inverse groundwater modeling, groundwater management in open-pit mining environments, and Managed Aquifer Recharge.

Besides research, he has been actively teaching groundwater management and groundwater modeling since 2003 at TU Dresden and has served as a guest lecturer in Hydrogeology at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) since 2017. He also serves as Manager of Digital Education for The Groundwater Project, where he coordinates the development of interactive educational tools and digital learning initiatives for the international groundwater community. His ongoing teaching activities use various innovative digital methods to improve learning, which was honored by the TU Dresden Teaching Award in 2017.