I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river and I who watched it
– Norman Maclean
About Me
Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Vermont
I am a fluvial geomorphologist and watershed scientist who studies the transport of material – water, sediment, wood, nutrients, etc. – through river basins to understand how river landscapes act, react, and evolve as connected networks of processes.
Though I'm always looking to add tools to my toolbox, my research primarily uses field-based measurements and sampling in conjunction with lab analyses and statistical techniques to understand how watersheds are connected across time and space.
My life outside of research generally consists of skiing, climbing, petting my cats, and eating peanut M&Ms. Not necessarily in that order.
If you'd like to collaborate, chat, or learn more, please reach out.
News & Events
(Curious what's been afoot? Well — expand below)
December 13th, 2023
Snow avalanches as agents of wood supply in mountain watersheds
Have you ever witnessed or seen video of an avalanche plunging down a mountainside and thought to yourself "Hmm, I wonder what impact that has on the stream at the bottom of the valley?" Well, then, you're in luck: our new paper in Geophysical Research Letters does (almost) just that. Read more about here.
June 30th, 2023
Native vegetation adds strength to river banks in Iceland
Some cool new work from Sara Rathburn and friends on how native vegetation being planted across Iceland in afforestation efforts adds cohesion to river banks and increases resistance to erosion. Read more about it here.
April 21st, 2023
The greater the difference, the larger the change
Increased sediment supply is known to drive river evolution, but at what scale? In a new review paper in Earth-Science Reviews, we scrutinize the literature on sediment supply-driven channel change in low-gradient rivers and derive a framework for anticipating alteration from a given influx of sediment. If you have a some time on your hands (it is, admittedly, a tad long), you can read more about it here.
February 5th, 2023
Why wood should move in rivers
Well, why? (I won't spoil it). An intriguing paper from Ellen Wohl and Co. on how wood movement is inherent in many of the benefits large wood provides and why management and restoration should, to the extent possible, prioritize wood that can indeed move. You can read more about it here.
January 3rd, 2023
Contaminant zones in the urban subsurface steadily bleed pollutants to urban streams
New research from Claire Welty and friends that examines the complex ways in which groundwater and the built environment interact to influence surface water quality. Read more about it here.
January 2nd, 2023
Go North, young man
I'm excited to announce that I am now a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Geography & Geosciences at the University of Vermont! I'll be primarily located in the newly formed UVM arm of the nationwide Center for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH), and my work will focus on unpacking the drivers of water quality in diverse watersheds in order to develop forecasting models for nutrient and sediment loading.