My
academic background is in environmental engineering, with an emphasis on
hydrology and hydraulics. After completing my undergraduate degree at the
University of Illinois, I stayed on to do a masters with an interdisciplinary
group of engineers, ecologists, geomorphologists, and biologists on a range of
issues associated with aquatic and riparian habitat in small streams. I
then worked as an ecological engineering consultant for several years in
northern California. My consulting work on river assessment and restoration
projects, combined with my experiences as an avid fly fisherman, propelled me
into a Ph.D. program in the College of Environmental Design at the University of
California, Berkeley.
The primary objective of my current research is to
develop a clearer understanding of the underlying processes of floodplain –
active channel interactions that could be used to help environmental planners
and designers make better decisions regarding floodplain restoration and
conservation. In order to develop this understanding, I am investigating the
physical and ecological conditions of natural and impacted stream corridors with
different ratios of floodplain size to active channel size to identify critical
physical and ecological relationships between active channels and floodplains.
Click here for a list of publications from my
research.
