About Me I am a ecosystem ecologist and watershed hydrologist with expertise in process-based mechanics of surface water and groundwater transport and biogeochemical processing within these environments. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies evaluating patterns and trends in stream solute export, focused on the connectivity of aquatic and terrestrial watershed ecosystems. email: [email protected] |
Background
My background work has focused on understanding site-specific surface water-groundwater interactions to instruct aquatic habitat/ecological restoration design as well as contaminant fate and transport remediation. I received my PhD in December 2022 from the Department of Natural Resource and the Environment program at the University of Connecticut advised by Dr. Ashley Helton. My dissertation work centered on evaluating the effects of stream temperature increases on carbon dynamics within stream networks. This research focuses on developing reach- and network-scale models based on heterotrophic ecosystem responses observed in field and laboratory studies as part of the collaborative NSF-funded Carbon Response to Experimental Warming project. I have extensive experience using novel, high-resolution field methods to characterize surface water-groundwater connections, including geophysical surveys, stable isotope tracers and multiple heat tracing techniques including infrared, fiber optic temperature sensing (FO-DTS), and thermal flux profiles. Previously I utilize unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) to evaluate larger, difficult to access aquatic systems. I am interested in combining these techniques to better understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of the groundwater-surface water interface, which will allow us to better able model and aptly apply to large scale projects. Until 2018 I worked for AECOM's Environmental Remediation Group. I received my M.S. under Dr. David Boutt at UMass Amherst in 2015. My central thesis questions involved understanding and quantifying surface water/groundwater interactions within wetlands. This research used geophysical techniques to better constrain an understanding of spatial controls on spring formation within peatlands, and is published in the journal HESS. At Syracuse University I had the privilege of working with Dr. Laura Lautz where my research project was focused in using heat as a tracer of surface water-groundwater interactions, and linking streambed flux exchange rates to observed biogeochemical dynamics. |