Zoi Dokou

Assistant Research Professor

Civil and Environmental Engineering

 Short Bio

Dr. Zoi Dokou received her PhD in Groundwater and Contaminant Transport Modeling at the University of Vermont. The area of focus of her doctoral work was the identification and delineation of a DNAPL source using limited concentration measurements from nearby wells. Due to their nature, the knowledge of the exact location of a DNAPL pool can prove invaluable information for a successful remediation process. An integrated algorithm was developed that combined statistical, numerical and fuzzy logic components in order to obtain, at least cost, information regarding a DNAPL source magnitude, location and depth. A stochastic model was created, in order to quantify the uncertainty of the predictions.

Other research interests include:

• Optimal remediation designs for NAPL source zones. By combining laboratory-scale experiments, multiphase numerical modeling and optimization of the NAPL recovery process, useful insights were obtained that were utilized towards the ultimate goal that is the effective remediation of real field sites.
• Groundwater management of coastal aquifers, with particular attention to the saltwater intrusion problem using both density dependent and sharp interface models.
• Groundwater flow and contaminant transport in fractured systems.
• Hexavalent chromium fate and transport in the subsurface with particular attention to field sites where a unique combination of geogenic and anthropogenic chromium sources are present.
• Effect of climate variability on groundwater resources.
• Surrogate models for groundwater flow and transport (Artificial Neural Networks, geostatistics etc.)
• Optimization of groundwater systems using traditional and heuristic techniques

Her role in the PIRE project involves groundwater modeling of regional and local aquifers. The model forecasts will inform farmers and small-scale irrigated agriculture communities about the impact of different water uptake strategies on the seasonal dynamics of their local water resources. In addition, she is working on the integration of the watershed and groundwater models.

Her research work has been published in 22 journal papers and 1 book chapter, and has been presented in 29 conferences.