In the fall of 2007, he was the Fulbright Visiting Chair of Water and Environment at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, studying the ecohydrology of springs of western Canada. He received his B.A. in geology from the College of Wooster and his M.S. and Ph.D. in hydrogeology from The Ohio State University. Dr. Springer and his students study local and regional groundwater flow systems and human impacts on them, apply principles of sustainability to aquifer management through models, quantify the hydrological function of groundwater dominated ecosystems, and study the role of land-use change and disturbance on groundwater flow systems and restoration of riparian ecosystems. With colleagues, he has developed a new, comprehensive spring classification system.