Information About

Aaron I. Packman Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Northwestern University 2145 Sheridan Road, A314 Evanston, IL 60208-3109, USA TEL: 847-497-9902 a-packman@northwestern.edu link to research site BS, Washington University, 1991, Mechanical Engineering MS, California Institute of Technology,1992, Environmental Engineering Science PhD, California Institute of Technology,1997, Environmental Engineering Science

Research:  Neurobiology and biomechanics of active sensing behaviors

My research focuses on environmental and microbial transport processes, with particular emphasis on understanding the basic processes that control interfacial transport in aquatic systems and the coupling of physical transport processes with biological and biogeochemical processes. I seek to define critical structure-transport-transformation relationships in dynamic natural environments such as rivers and surface-attached microbial communities (biofilms). My work is highly collaborative and encompasses basic fluid mechanics, particle transport and morphodynamics, microbiology, and aquatic and surface chemistry. Important applications include contaminant transport and water quality, microbial habitat conditions and benthic microbial ecology, nutrient and carbon cycling, ecosystem degradation and restoration, control of biofilm-based infections, and the transmission of waterborne disease.

Teaching Activites

GEN_ENG 205-2 Engineering Analysis II
CIV_ENG 260 Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering
CIV_ENG 440 Environmental Transport Processes
CIV_ENG 516 Seminar in Environmental Engineering and Science

Professional Activites

Searle Junior Teaching Fellow (2001-2002)
Associate Editor, Water Resources Research
Editorial Board, International Journal of Sediment Research
Board of Directors, International Association for Sediment Water Science
UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions and Nutrient Behavior in River Corridors, Invited Panelist (2005)
NSF/DOE Workshop, Water: Challenges at the Intersection of Human and Natural Systems, Invited Panelist (2004)

Honors and Awards

McCormick Excellence Award (2006)
Searle Junior Teaching Fellow (2001-2002)
NSF CAREER Award (1999)

Selected publications

Arnon, S., Packman, A.I., Peterson, C.G., and Gray, K.A., 2007, Effects of overlying velocity on periphyton structure and denitrification, JGR-Biogeosciences , 112, G01002, doi:10.1029/2006JG000235.

Searcy, K.E., Packman, A.I., Atwill, E.R., and Harter, T., 2006, The capture and retention of Cryptosporidium oocysts in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms, Applied and Environmental Microbiology , 72(9), doi:10.1128/AEM.00344-06, 6242–6247 [Cover article].

Wörman, A., Packman, A.I., Marklund, L., Harvey, J.W., and Stone, S.H., 2006, Exact three-dimensional spectral solution to surface-groundwater interactions with arbitrary surface topography, Geophysical Research Letters , 33(7), L07402, doi:10.1029/2006GL025747.

Cortis, A., Harter, T., Hou L., Atwill, E.R., Packman, A.I., and Green, P.G., 2006, Transport of Cryptosporidium parvum in porous media: Long-term elution experiments and continuous time random walk filtration modeling, Water Resources Research , 42, W12S13, doi:10.1029/2006WR004897.

Searcy, K.E., Packman, A.I., Atwill, E.R., and Harter, T., 2006, Deposition of Cryptosporidium oocysts by stream-subsurface exchange, Applied and Environmental Microbiology , 72(3), 1810-1816.

Packman, A.I., Marion, A., Zaramella, M., Chen, C., Gaillard, J-F, and Keane, D., 2006, Development of layered sediment structure and its effects on pore water transport and hyporheic exchange, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus , 6(5-6), DOI: 10.1007/s11267-006-9057-y.

Ryan, R.J., and Packman, A.I., 2006, Changes in streambed sediment characteristics and solute transport in the headwaters of Valley Creek, an urbanizing watershed, Journal of Hydrology , 323(1-4), doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.06.042, 74-91.