Undergraduate Student Research & Mentoring
If you are a Geoscience undergraduate student or dual degree student interested in hydrogeology, water quality, or computer coding for environmental modelling, let me know! I often have data sets that need to be plotted and analyzed or field samples that need to be collected or analyzed in the lab. Field work opportunities include assisting with stream discharge measurements, stream temperature measurements, collecting water samples, and deploying, monitoring, and maintaining equipment in the field. Please reach out to me and we can determine what research you might like to work on!
In addition to providing opportunities to conduct research, I am always willing to talk to students about their career goals or advice on applying to internships and jobs. I have held positions both in state and federal geological surveys, worked and studied at a variety of colleges and universities, and had internships in environmental consulting and at a non-profit environmental research organization. Therefore regardless of your potential interests I am happy to provide advice. Please send me an email and we can set up a time to talk!
In addition to providing opportunities to conduct research, I am always willing to talk to students about their career goals or advice on applying to internships and jobs. I have held positions both in state and federal geological surveys, worked and studied at a variety of colleges and universities, and had internships in environmental consulting and at a non-profit environmental research organization. Therefore regardless of your potential interests I am happy to provide advice. Please send me an email and we can set up a time to talk!
Projects with student opportunities
Stream Temperatures in Upstate NY
This study focuses on understanding the temperature dynamics in streams and rivers in Upstate NY. As climate change progresses, longer and hotter heat waves will occur during the summer, affecting stream temperatures during these periods. Climate change is also predicted to affect groundwater temperatures, which also play an important role in regulating stream temperatures. This is particularly problematic for fish species that rely on cool areas within streams for their survival. Therefore we are interested in furthering our understanding of how stream temperatures will be affected by such changes, both now and in the future. Furthermore we are interested in how such water temperature changes will affect water quality in streams, since water quality issues such as algae blooms can be worsened by increased temperatures. Potential tasks/skills include:
Flood Risk Modeling
This study focuses on understanding the factors leading to flooding around Oriskany Creek. Oriskany Creek begins in Madison County and flows northeastward, primarily through Oneida County, where it flows through numerous towns that have experienced flooding during high water levels. A primary goal of this project is to understand the combinations of precipitation and antecedent moisture conditions that can lead to flooding in inhabited areas and to forecast the frequency with which such events are expected to occur in the future. Potential tasks/skills include:
Surface and Groundwater Quality
The dissolved constituents in rivers, lakes and groundwater can provide clues about the quality of these water resources. Cations and anions dissolved in natural waters in elevated concentrations can indicate contamination due to road salt runoff, agricultural processes, septic tank leakage, and other phenomena. Students interested in such processes and water chemistry are encouraged to develop a question that can be addressed by collecting water samples from the environment and analyzing the concentrations of dissolved constituents within the samples. Potential tasks/skills include:
HFLUX Stream Temperature Model Development
This research focuses on continued development of the HFLUX stream temperature energy balance model, which is a program written in MATLAB to calculate stream temperature through space and time. Ongoing work includes adding additional stream channel shape options, incorporating the capability to account for surface water inflows along the length of the modeled stream, and creating a GUI that can be used by students in courses. Additional future work includes scripting the model code in Python to provide students and researchers with a version of the code that can be run using free software. Potential tasks/skills include:
Groundwater in an Agricultural Plain in Northern Italy
This study focuses on groundwater flow modeling in the southern portion of the Ticino basin of Northern Italy. This region is dominated by agriculture, particularly flood irrigated rice fields, and so the impact of this irrigation technique on aquifer recharge is of great importance. We are also interested in understanding how agricultural contaminants are transported from these fields to local rivers to better understand their impact on water quality. For this research MODFLOW, the USGS groundwater flow model, and MODPATH are used to study groundwater flow and transport in the basin. This study is also interested in assessing how climate change will affect groundwater flow and the water cycle in the future in this region. Potential tasks/skills include:
If there is another question you are interested in investigating, please let me know. I am always happy to develop projects based on students' interests if we can obtain the necessary resources!
This study focuses on understanding the temperature dynamics in streams and rivers in Upstate NY. As climate change progresses, longer and hotter heat waves will occur during the summer, affecting stream temperatures during these periods. Climate change is also predicted to affect groundwater temperatures, which also play an important role in regulating stream temperatures. This is particularly problematic for fish species that rely on cool areas within streams for their survival. Therefore we are interested in furthering our understanding of how stream temperatures will be affected by such changes, both now and in the future. Furthermore we are interested in how such water temperature changes will affect water quality in streams, since water quality issues such as algae blooms can be worsened by increased temperatures. Potential tasks/skills include:
- Data collection outside and in streams
- Laboratory work
- Data analysis
- Modeling
Flood Risk Modeling
This study focuses on understanding the factors leading to flooding around Oriskany Creek. Oriskany Creek begins in Madison County and flows northeastward, primarily through Oneida County, where it flows through numerous towns that have experienced flooding during high water levels. A primary goal of this project is to understand the combinations of precipitation and antecedent moisture conditions that can lead to flooding in inhabited areas and to forecast the frequency with which such events are expected to occur in the future. Potential tasks/skills include:
- Data collection outside and in streams
- GIS work
- Data analysis
- Modeling
Surface and Groundwater Quality
The dissolved constituents in rivers, lakes and groundwater can provide clues about the quality of these water resources. Cations and anions dissolved in natural waters in elevated concentrations can indicate contamination due to road salt runoff, agricultural processes, septic tank leakage, and other phenomena. Students interested in such processes and water chemistry are encouraged to develop a question that can be addressed by collecting water samples from the environment and analyzing the concentrations of dissolved constituents within the samples. Potential tasks/skills include:
- Sample collection from streams, lakes, wells, storm drains, etc.
- Laboratory analysis (ion chromatography)
- Data analysis
HFLUX Stream Temperature Model Development
This research focuses on continued development of the HFLUX stream temperature energy balance model, which is a program written in MATLAB to calculate stream temperature through space and time. Ongoing work includes adding additional stream channel shape options, incorporating the capability to account for surface water inflows along the length of the modeled stream, and creating a GUI that can be used by students in courses. Additional future work includes scripting the model code in Python to provide students and researchers with a version of the code that can be run using free software. Potential tasks/skills include:
- MATLAB and/or Python coding
- Data analysis
- Modeling
Groundwater in an Agricultural Plain in Northern Italy
This study focuses on groundwater flow modeling in the southern portion of the Ticino basin of Northern Italy. This region is dominated by agriculture, particularly flood irrigated rice fields, and so the impact of this irrigation technique on aquifer recharge is of great importance. We are also interested in understanding how agricultural contaminants are transported from these fields to local rivers to better understand their impact on water quality. For this research MODFLOW, the USGS groundwater flow model, and MODPATH are used to study groundwater flow and transport in the basin. This study is also interested in assessing how climate change will affect groundwater flow and the water cycle in the future in this region. Potential tasks/skills include:
- Python coding using FloPy (code that runs MODFLOW and MODPATH)
- Data analysis
- Modeling
If there is another question you are interested in investigating, please let me know. I am always happy to develop projects based on students' interests if we can obtain the necessary resources!
