2024/2025 Meetings
The AEG Southern Nevada Chapter holds dinner meetings eight times per year. Meetings are typically held on the second Tuesday of the month at the Embassy Suites Las Vegas located at 4315 University Center Drive (Near UNLV between Harmon Avenue and Flamingo Road) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each meeting features a presentation regarding a pertinent geological, environmental, or other relevant science-based issue.
Check-in and Socialize 6:00 to 6:30 pm
Dinner: 6:30 pm
Presentation: 7:15 to 8:00 pm
Members: $40.00
Non-members: $45.00
Student Members: $20.00 (Do not Pay in Advance)
Student Non-members: $25.00 (Do not Pay in Advance)
Walk-ins: $50.00
Vegetarian options are available. Just let us know when you
register!
Payment for attending required at the time of registration.
NDEP - Certified Environmental Manager (CEM) Professional Development Hours (PDHs)
Attendance of a meeting will qualify for one NDEP-CEM-PDH. There is no limit on the amount of PDHs that can be obtained by attending monthly meetings. Become an active member of the AEG Southern Nevada Chapter and an additional four PDHs can be obtained annually. Attending the AEG Southern Nevada Chapter meetings is a great way to network while obtaining the required PDHs necessary to maintain your CEM license.

Tuesday - May 13, 2025
6:00 to 8:00 p.m. PDT
"Threats to Western Water Security as Viewed from Space"
By: Dr. Jay Famiglietti
Hydrologist and Global Futures Professor
Arizona State University
ABSTRACT:
Changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) are a critical indicator of freshwater availability. The focus of this presentation is TWS change in the western United States, and especially the Colorado River Basin (CRB), where the balance between surface and groundwater use is critical, yet groundwater management receives considerably less attention. NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On satellite data were used along with several additional ground- and model-derived datasets to show that groundwater depletion accounted for 50% of TWS loss in the Upper CRB and 75% in the Lower CRB, far greater than the losses in Lakes Powell and Mead. However, groundwater management practices and access to surface water have reduced depletion rates in managed areas of the Lower CRB compared to unmanaged regions. Expansion of groundwater management and inclusion of groundwater in interstate water discussions may help chart a path to water sustainability across the western United States.
BIO:
Jay Famiglietti is a hydrologist and Global Futures Professor at Arizona State University where he is Director of Science for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative. He is President-Elect of the American Geophysical Union’s Hydrology Section. Before moving to Arizona State University, Famiglietti was founding Chief Scientist of the Silicon Valley tech startup, Waterplan; he was Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan; he was Senior Water Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; he was appointed to the California State Water Boards by Governor Jerry Brown; and he held faculty positions at UC Irvine and UT Austin. His research group uses satellites to track how freshwater availability is changing around the globe, and they pioneered the methods to detect groundwater depletion from space. A fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America, and recipient of AGU's Peter S. Eagleson Hydrological Sciences Award, he is committed to science communication and to multi-sectoral advising on water security issues.
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October 8, 2024
"Seismic Profiling Across the Eglington and Frenchman Mountain Faults to Identify and Constrain Quaternary Fault Motion" by Professor Lee Liberty, Boise State University, Idaho.
November 12, 2024
"The Community Environmental Monitoring Program: Radiological Monitoring of Air and Groundwater Surrounding and Downwind of the Nevada National Security Site, Including Data from the Las Vegas Valley and Boulder City" by Beverly Parker, Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada.
January 14, 2025
"Mapping the Heat Islands of Las Vegas and Reno: Towards a More Heat Resilient Nevada" by Dr. Thomas Albright, Associate Professor and Deputy State Climatologist, Department of Geography, University of Nevada, Reno.
February 11, 2025
Jahns Lecture: "Advanced Edge-AI Monitoring Technologies for Combating the Geologic and Hydrologic Hazards Associated with Climate Change" by Dr. John Kemeny, Emeritus Professor, Mining and Engineering Geology, University of Arizona, Tucson. 2024-2025 AEG Jahns Lecturer.
March 11, 2025
"Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge, and Modeling Contaminant Movement in the Central Valley of California" by Dr. Zach Perzan, Geoscience Department, UNLV.
March 15, 2025
Field trip to Great Unconformity and Bright Angel Shale, led by Professor Steve Rowland and Dr. Nick Saines.
April 8, 2025
"70 Years of Flood Control in the Las Vegas Valley: Historical Floods and the District's Response" by Andrew Trelease, General Manager and Chief Engineer, Clark County Regional Flood Control District.
May 13, 2025
“Threats to Western Water Security as Viewed from Space” by Dr. Jay Famiglietti, Arizona State University.
May 31, 2025