About Me
Hello! I am a fluvial geomorpholgist - in other words, I study how flowing water shapes the earth. In its most basic form, I want to know why the earth looks the way it does, how it came to look that way, and what it might look like in the future. My interests thus encompass parts of many scientific fields - from geology, to geography and environmental science, to civil engineering, to social science and more.
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Like many in this field, a love of being outdoors drove me to this career! I love being waist-deep in a river, climbing over (or hiding under!) rock formations, or trudging through a marsh looking at birds. I enjoy a nice Baltic porter, cheer for my Wisconsin-based sports teams, and would never turn off a Zeppelin song. Please have a look around my website. Cheers!
Research In Brief
What role does water play in forming landscapes, and how might this change with a changing climate?
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How and why do rivers take a new course?
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How do rivers mix sediment and water at confluences, and how does this affect life in rivers?
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When temperature, rainfall, and river flows change, how do rivers and their landscapes change?
In what ways can we leverage new and developing technologies to better understand landscape process and landforms?
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Does better technology lead to better understanding in geomorphology?
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How do we integrate established technology like GPS with developing technology like drones?
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Can we find new and better ways to measure lake and river levels or water stresses and floods?
Education
BS, 2011
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Geography
MS, 2014, PhD, 2017
University of Illinois
Geography
Post-doc, 2018-2019
Indiana University
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
How can we better understand and improve society's relationship with earth's water resources?
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Can we make floods or droughts less deadly, less damaging, and more predictable?
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How do we balance resource usage, plant and animal life and health, and society's needs in a changing world?
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In what ways can scientists use citizens as an informational resource, and how can we both inform the public and learn from it?