The combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that has occurred in the last decade has environmental implications, and learning more about those effects and what policies need to be made to control them is important, says U-M Assistant Professor Brian Ellis. Ellis, who is studying the potential water quality impacts associated with hydraulic fracturing activities, explains the process of hydraulic fracturing and why it motivates his research.

ABOUT THE PROFESSOR: Brain Ellis (http://www.cee.umich.edu/people/facul...) is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (http://cee.engin.umich.edu/) at the University of Michigan. His research interests cover topics related to the sustainable and safe development of emerging energy technologies, including geologic storage of CO2 and large-scale hydrualic fracturing of unconventional oil/gas reservoirs.