Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University has been selected to direct an international water resource program funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

UNESCO approved the "Global Study of Karst Aquifers and Water Resources" at a meeting last week in Paris, France.

Dr. Chris Groves, director of WKU's Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within the University's Applied Research and Technology Program, will serve as the program's project leader within UNESCO's International Geoscience Program.

"Even in its proposal form, the continuously evolving project had written endorsements from cooperating scientists from 33 countries including such diverse places as Russia, Iran, Indonesia, China and Australia," said Dr. Groves, who returned this week from Paris.

Dr. Groves said all of these countries face significant quality of life issues with regard to karst water resources.

The three other project co-leaders are Yuan Daoxian of China's Institute of Karst Geology in Guilin, Bartolome Andrea-Novarro of Malaga University in Spain and Heather Viles of England's Oxford University.

The major focus of the U.N. funding is to support communication between scientists from countries around the world working on common environmental problems. In the new water project, for example, meetings are planned for Greece in August 2005, as well as Spain and Switzerland in 2006.

In 2007, WKU and Mammoth Cave National Park will host a major international joint conference of this group, along with the International Association of Hydrogeologists, the International Geographical Union and the International Speleological Union, that follows successful similar meetings here in 1981, 1998 and 2003.

Closer to home this project will provide outstanding opportunities for geoscience students to participate in research projects and interact with scientists from around the globe. Over the past five years, for example, nine Hoffman Institute graduate students have gone to China, including four who will travel this month, for research associated with this work. This summer another group of students will give scientific presentations at a project conference in Athens, Greece.

Dr. Groves also served as a co-leader of a recent five-year UNESCO karst project on Global Correlation of Karst Geology and Relevant Ecosystems.

The research conducted by the Hoffman Institute contributes measurably to improving the quality of life of millions of people across the globe, said Dr. David Keeling, head of the Department of Geography and Geology.

"Chris and the Hoffman Institute's students and faculty are continuing to build a reputation for excellence in applied research across the globe that fits clearly within Western's broader mission of building a nationally and internationally recognized university," Dr. Keeling said. "Moreover, the students and faculty who engage in these research opportunities are helping to address water resource problems faced by communities from southcentral Kentucky to rural China and beyond."

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For information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974.