Assaf Wunsch

Assaf Wunsch (RECS 2010) is a Ph.D. student at the Colorado School of Mines where he is involved in an EPA-funded project to examine possible effects of carbon storage on drinking-water aquifer quality. This work will integrate estimations of CO2 leakage rates and the ability of different fresh-water aquifers to buffer low-pH driven geochemical reactions, as well as the possible release of mineral-bound metals. Assaf is also wrapping up work predicting nitrogen removal in soil treatment units, combining laboratory measurements and numerical modeling. He was previously a research assistant at the Geological Survey of Israel, drilling in stalactites and stalagmites and running stable isotopes samples for a paleo-climate reconstruction project. Assaf holds a B.S. in Geology and Environmental Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel where he worked on a project that included mapping of the sea floor at the Gulf of Aqaba, assembling fault maps of the Dead Sea Rift and bathymetric maps of the Gulf of Aqaba. Between his B.S. and graduate studies he spent two months in Inner Mongolina, China, working as a well sitter for an oil sand project.