After graduate school and a post-doc stint at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landslide Hazard team, I have been teaching at Western Carolina University in the Smoky Mountains. My general research focus is in hydrology and geomorphology, and I teach classes in soils, water, geomorphology, and introductory geology.
I have been fortunate to teach at an institution, and more specifically, in a department that embraces hands-on learning and undergraduate research. The hands-on, student-friendly approach of our Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources lead to us receiving the Academic Program of Excellence award in 2012. I received Western’s School of Arts and Science teaching award in 2011 for my work doing active, engaged learning in classes. My colleague Mark Lord and I received a nearly $200 K National Science Foundation grant for examining the usage of undergraduate research as a pedagogical tool in classes throughout the curriculum. I am very passionate about teaching, and I believe very strongly in our department’s approach.
Currently, Mark and I are working in a research watershed in Cullowhee in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources . We are investigating questions of groundwater recharge, subsurface flowpaths an groundwater and stream water interaction. We have a student team that help operate the research watershed, a great group of students that are called Research Fellows.
A description of the watershed that relates to my scientific and educational research questions can be found at: wchrs.wcu.edu.
