The Hydrology program at the University of Colorado has recently been added as a new option within the existing interdisciplinary Geophysics Ph.D. Program, which previously included only solid- earth geophysics. Eight academic departments participate in this program. In this proposal we outline an interdisciplinary educational and research plan to attract new graduate students to the hydrology program. The interdisciplinary component of our plan is developed jointly with the faculty from the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (PAOS) and the solid-earth geophysics. The main focus of this plan is to address fundamental scale issues in hydrology as they relate to climate change and water quality. A common theme of this effort is the use of statistical-dynamical techniques and non-linear dynamics to address these scale issues in heterogenous natural systems. Our efforts will be focused on the following topics: (1) Scaling and statistical-dynamical characterization of precipitation (2) Modeling of energy and moisture exchange at the land surface (3) Scaling and runoff prediction from ungauged basins (4) Scale effects in subsurface transport in heterogeneous aquifers (5) Subsurface flow in fractured rocks. The proposed curriculum has the following innovative structural components: multidisciplinary education that crosses departmental and college bounds; opportunity for students to participate in related national and international field experiments and program; and interaction of senior Ph.D. students with the faculty to design and teach new innovative courses.
