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Biography

I am an Assistant Professor of Hydrology within the Geosciences and Natural Resources Department. I grew up in Western North Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains, where I first learned to love mountain streams and mountain snow. I took that passion with me to Appalachian State University where I studied Chemistry (focus on aqueous/environmental chemistry) and Environmental Science, and spent my summers raft guiding and my winters ski patrolling. After my time at App State, I taught high school science and math for several years, and discovered a love for teaching. To blend my interests in teaching and water science (and spend some time in "big mountains" with "big snow"), I began graduate school at the Colorado School of Mines, where I earned by Masters and PhD in Hydrologic Science and Engineering and gained post-secondary teaching experience. My entire life I have been fascinated with the natural world - especially mountain catchments. One of my largest goals as a professor is to allow this fascination to drive my research agenda, and to carry over into my teaching, so that I can best support students along their journey toward careers within the geosciences and natural resource management.

Education

• Ph D, Colorado School Mines
• MS, Colorado School Mines
• BS, Appalachian State University

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests include teaching topics related to natural and urban hydrology, climate science, soil and geo-sciences, analytical methods and watershed modeling. In both lecture and lab courses, I rely heavily on the Socratic method of instruction, which I find helps with student engagement/participation and enhanced critical thinking. I am interested in exploring new teaching methods and tools, that 1) foster "differentiation of instruction" so that students with diverse learning styles/preferences are best supported and 2) keep content "fresh" and on the cutting edge of methods used within the hydrologic sciences.

Research Interests

My research focus is within the broad space of "disturbance hydrology". I am interested in understanding how land cover change can impact watersheds. In particular, my work evaluates how wildfire, insect and disease induced forest mortality, forest harvesting and urbanization can alter water supplies. My work also explores extreme hydrologic events (e.g. droughts and flooding) - and how scientific methods, especially hydrologic modelling, can best capture those events for purposes of supporting water management and planning. Almost all of my research is "stakeholder driven", meaning that the work I do is meant to inform real water users/stakeholders (especially in my local region) in addition to making novel contributions to my discipline.