Associate Professor School of Environmental Science and Engineering
Xiuyu Liang is an Associate Professor with tenure at the Southern University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Hydrology and Water Resources from Nanjing University. Before joining SUSTech, he worked as an Assistant Researcher and later as an Associate Researcher at Nanjing University. His research focuses on hydrogeology and subsurface hydrodynamics, with particular emphasis on coupled processes between the vadose zone and groundwater systems. He studies how unsaturated-zone processes regulate groundwater recharge, discharge, interfacial fluxes, and delayed groundwater responses to external forcing. His group develops analytical, semi-analytical, and process-based models for unsaturated–saturated flow, surface water–groundwater interactions, groundwater responses to Earth tides, temporal scaling of hydrological signals, and solute and gas transport in porous media. His work has appeared in leading journals in hydrology, hydrogeology, and environmental science, including Water Resources Research, Geophysical Research Letters, Environmental Science & Technology, and Water Research. He serves as an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, and Vadose Zone Journal, and contributes to the hydrology and groundwater communities through professional committees, including the AGU Groundwater Technical Committee.
Personal Profile
Education:
- 2009.9-2012.6, Ph.D. in Hydrology and Water Resource, Nanjing University, China
- 2005.9-2008.6, M.S. in Geological Engineering, Anhui University of Science and Technology, China
- 2001.9-2005.6, B.S. in Resources and Environment, Anhui University of Science and Technology, China
Professional and Academic Positions:
- 2026.6-Now, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology
- 2021.1-2026.5, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology
- 2018.2-2020.12, Research Associate Professor, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology
- 2015.7-2018.1, Associate Researcher, Center for Hydrosciences Research, Nanjing University
- 2012.7-2015.6, Assistant Researcher, Center for Hydrosciences Research, Nanjing University
- 2016.11-2017.11, Visiting Scholar, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Texas A&M University
- 2013.8-2014.8, Postdoc Researcher, Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa
Editorial Duty：
- 2026-Now Associate Editor, Water Resources Research
- 2025-Now Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology
- 2020-Now Associate Editor, Vadose Zone Journal
- 2019-2026 Associate Editor, Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment
- 2020-present Committee member, Groundwater Science and Engineering Committee of Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society
Committee memberships：
- AGU Groundwater Technical Committee, 2025.04–Present.
- Groundwater Committee, IWRA China Committee, 2025.05–Present.
- Committee on Resources Research in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas, China Society of Natural Resources, 2023.11–Present.
- Groundwater Science, IAHS China Committee, 2022.01–Present.
- Groundwater Science and Engineering Committee, Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society, 2020.12–Present.
Honors and Awards：
- 2025, Second Prize, Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, Shandong Provincial People's Government
- 2024, Excellent Tutor of the 4th “Guanghuiyuan Cup” Intelligent Water Conservancy Innovation Competition
- 2024, Outstanding Editorial Member of Bulletin of Geological Science and Technology
- 2024, Outstanding Reviewer of Bulletin of Geological Science and Technology
- 2022, Outstanding Editorial Member of Bulletin of Geological Science and Technology
- 2018, Outstanding Reviewer of Journal of Hydrology
- 2016, Outstanding Reviewer of Journal of Hydrology
- 2011, Guanghua Scholarship, Nanjing University.
- 2011, The Excellent graduate student, Nanjing University.
Research
1. Coupling unsaturated-saturated flow.
2. Interaction of the surface-groundwater flow.
3. Modeling of vapor instrusion.
4. Stochastic theory of flow and transport in geological media.
Teaching
ESE318-Groundwater Hydrology
ESE5017-Spatial Statistics (Applied Geostatistics)
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His research focuses on hydrogeology and subsurface hydrodynamics, with particular emphasis on coupled processes between the vadose zone and groundwater systems. He studies how unsaturated-zone processes regulate groundwater recharge, discharge, interfacial fluxes, and delayed groundwater responses to external forcing. His group develops analytical, semi-analytical, and process-based models for unsaturated–saturated flow, surface water–groundwater interactions, groundwater responses to Earth tides, temporal scaling of hydrological signals, and solute and gas transport in porous media.
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Contact Us
Contact Address
1088 Xueyuan Avenue, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Office Phone
liangxy 'AT' sustech.edu.cn