For most of his early life, Adam Milewski was convinced he was going to be a lawyer. He didn’t feel particularly drawn to pursue a legal career, but everyone else told him he should pursue it.
“As the youngest of five kids, I felt like I had to have a voice,” he said. “I never really accepted the answer ‘no’ very well, and I always sort of had ideas and proposals.”
But underneath the argumentative streak was something that didn’t quite fit that career path: an insatiable curiosity about how things work and what could be done differently.
The traits that once made Milewski feel destined for law have become integral to his work as John & Barbara Dowd Professor of Hydrogeology and head of the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Geology.
That curiosity has kept him from settling into any single approach, pushing him to adopt new technologies and reconsider familiar problems throughout his career.
As a researcher, he questions assumptions, evaluates evidence, and uses that evidence to build a hypothesis—much like an attorney constructs a case. The public speaking courses he took while studying law now come into play as he explains complex research to students, communities, policymakers, and other scientists.
“We don’t have enough science advocates—people speaking up about the importance of science in everyday lives,” he said.
From lawyer to scientist
Milewski was in his third year of pre-law at the University at Buffalo when he took his first geology class and met mentor Greg Baker. Milewski was studying environmental law, a path he felt drawn to because of his love for science.
Baker changed everything. He made the subject engaging and accessible at a time when Milewski was becoming increasingly unsure of his path. By his second geology course, Milewski had found the sense of purpose that was missing for most of his education.
“I didn’t know at all what the career was going to be when I switched majors. I just thought this is what I like doing,” he said.
Geology offered a way to investigate environmental issues like water and energy resources while also giving him opportunities for fieldwork. Another professor, Mohamed Sultan, showed Milewski exactly what a career in geology could look like when he recruited him for an undergraduate research program. His role involved analyzing remote-sensing imagery, captured via satellite, to study desert landscapes and investigate potential groundwater resources.
Suddenly, geology wasn’t just about rocks. It was problem solving and asking basic questions like, “Where might people find water?”
The project brought together several things that attracted Milewski: water resources, emerging technology, fieldwork, and the possibility of addressing a real-world problem.
Still, it was several years after he graduated before Milewski began pursuing a career in academia. He was working at Argonne National Laboratory, with the hope of one day landing at NASA, when Sultan reached out to him about continuing the research he did as an undergraduate.
Sultan would remain his mentor for nearly a decade of doctoral studies and postdoctoral research.
“He told me being an academic mentor is the best job on Earth, and I agree,” Milewski said. “I love if a student comes back to me and says, ‘You were that mentor,’ like I thought of Mohamed. That, to me, is the most rewarding.”
Building better tools
Since his undergraduate years, developing and working with emerging technologies has been a huge part of Milewski’s career.
While working on that first project with Sultan, he encountered more remote-sensing data than existing tools could efficiently process. He taught himself to program and developed a software called RESDEM (Remote Sensing Data Extraction Module) that allowed anyone to process raw satellite data from NASA from about 20 satellites. The tool could apply all the necessary instrument and data corrections, subset to anywhere on Earth, and output user-specific products.
He continued refining that software in graduate school, resulting in two patents, and the technology was licensed and later sold to a major company.
Milewski’s research continues to evolve alongside advances in computing. He now incorporates artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantum computing to process and analyze data.
“How can we use data technology and think about new, innovative ways to look at the same data or the same problems?” he said. “I can’t do the same thing for 30 years. I consider myself a lifelong learner.”
Milewski was selected for the inaugural cohort of UGA Faculty Innovation Fellows, a university-wide program that helps faculty turn research and creative ideas into commercial outcomes.
The Fellows serve as peer liaisons between researchers in their colleges and UGA’s broader entrepreneurial resources, including Innovation Gateway. They learn about intellectual property commercialization and business development, then share that knowledge with colleagues in their respective colleges.
In addition, Milewski serves as both participant in and ambassador for the Innovation District, connecting fellow Franklin College faculty with resources that might not have known were available to them.
“I’ve always been passionate about maximizing the impact of my research,” said Milewski, who has an environmental consulting company, Perennial Rock Environment. “My goal is to encourage and help support a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
That commitment to meaningful, real-world impact has also taken Milewski far beyond campus, and into communities around the world.
Lessons from the desert
“Pretty much every desert you can imagine on Earth, I’ve probably been in it,” he said.
He conducted his first field research in 2004, traveling to Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. It would become a defining moment in his career, as he saw firsthand the impact hydrogeology can have on communities.
“What I was doing via satellite image analysis, to then see it in person … that kind of changed my life,” he said.
He has since visited over 50 countries and conducted research in deserts across the Middle East, North Africa, Australia, Hawaii, and the continental United States.
Much of Milewski’s work takes place either at a computer or in the desert. He began his geology career analyzing satellite imagery to identify potential groundwater sources. But seeing the landscapes he had studied from afar helped him understand what those findings could mean for the people living there. (Photo provided by Milewski)
He realized there were things satellites couldn’t capture when it comes to hydrogeology. In one instance, Milewski and his research team received a grant from the Egyptian government to find potential groundwater sites in the desert to build communities. However, when they visited the 10 sites they had catalogued via satellite, there were several Bedouin groups already living there.
“They knew geology and hydrogeology,” he said. “Why? Because they were a civilization that has existed for thousands of years in that harsh environment.”
The experience humbled Milewski and changed how he approached field research.
“We knew we needed to start meeting with people first, not just use satellites.”
Making the case for science
Although Milewski ultimately wasn’t destined for a law career, he has become a science advocate and believes it is important for all scientists to be able to explain not only what they study, but why it matters.
“Nobody cares about Darcy’s law,” he said, referring to an equation that measures how fast liquids move through tiny spaces in things like sand, soil, or rock. “What we care about is that Darcy’s law is going to tell us the rate of groundwater flow, which means your neighbor may have the water instead of you.”
He adjusts his message depending on his audience, whether for academic conferences, public forums, or media interviews. Those communication skills tie back to Milewski’s belief that ultimately, science should serve society—that research has limited impact if scientists can’t help people understand and use their findings.
His role as department head also allows him to advocate for geology as a discipline, as it is often a misunderstood field.
“Everybody says geology is just rocks,” Milewski said. “Well, yes, but it’s so much more than that. Geologists contribute to water security, critical mineral supplies, energy production, climate solutions, and public health.
“Geologists are part of a solution.”