Biographies (in order of appearance)

Welcome

 

Arne Bomblies – State Director, VT EPSCoR

Dr. Bomblies works at the intersection of climate and society and seeks to understand how a changing climate will affect human and natural systems. Specifically, his research spans the following areas: climatic and hydrologic impacts on malaria transmission, the impacts of changing extreme climatic events, and climate-to-flood mechanistic linkages. This involves fieldwork in places such as Niger, Ethiopia, and Madagascar for the malaria work, as well as climate and hydrological modeling with an emphasis on extreme events in the northeastern US. He has also conducted climate change impacts research in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys and has four years of experience as a consulting hydrogeologist. He received his Ph.D. from MIT in 2009, an M.S. from the University of Colorado in 1999, and a B.S. from Cornell University in 1996. He is also a registered environmental engineer in the State of Vermont.

 

Chris Koliba – Associated Director VT EPSCoR

Dr. Koliba is a Professor in the Community Development and Applied Economics Department at the University of Vermont (UVM), the Director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program, the Co-Director of the Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation (SEGS) Lab (www.uvm.edu/segs) and a fellow at the Gund Institute on Ecological Economics. He possesses a Ph.D. and an MPA from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. His research interests include environmental governance, governance networks, community resilience, network performance and accountability, with applications to water quality, food systems, energy systems, emergency and disaster response, and sustainable transportation systems.

 

Suresh V. Garimella – President, University of Vermont

Suresh V. Garimella is the 27th president of the University of Vermont. A strong proponent of the value of public higher education, President Garimella was drawn to UVM in part because of its status as the land-grant university for Vermont, the home state of Senator Justin Morrill who authored the land grant concept and served as a UVM trustee. Garimella received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, his MS from The Ohio State University, and his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
 
 
 

Special Appreciations

 

Judith Van Houten - Emeritus State Director Vermont EPSCoR

Dr. Judith Van Houten was named University Distinguished Professor, a life time appointment at the University of Vermont, and one of four inaugural faculty recognized with this honor in 2009. She served as the George H. Perkins Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont (UVM) and was appointed State Director of the Vermont Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VT EPSCoR) in 2005 of which she also served as the Principal Investigator. In September 2008, she was inducted into the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) as a Full Member. Elected an AAAS Fellow in the same year, Dr. Van Houten was commended for her "distinguished contributions to the field of chemosensory signal transduction and to development of research infrastructure and pre-baccalaureate education throughout the state of Vermont". In 2010, Dr. Van Houten was elected as a Fellow to the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences and held leadership positions on national boards as President of the National Association of IDeA Primary Investigators, and Chair of the NSF EPSCoR Project Director's Executive Committee.
 
 

Research Slams

 

Andrew Schroth - BREE Ecological Systems Co-Leader, Research Associate Professor of Geology, UVM

Dr. Andrew W. Schroth is a low temperature biogeochemist and a Research Associate Professor of Geology at the University of Vermont. He holds a BA in Geology from Colgate University, and MS and PhD degrees in geochemistry from Northern Arizona University and Dartmouth College respectively. Dr. Schroth's research focuses on quantitatively describing the environmental factors controlling nutrient and pollutant lability in soils and aqueous environments, with an overarching focus on understanding and/or predicting a biogeochemical system's response to changes in landscape and climate. Prior to joining the University of Vermont, Dr. Schroth was a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Scholar and Research Scientist at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, MA

 

Brittany Lancellotti – GRA Vermont EPSCoR

Brittany is pursuing a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. She is interested in how microbial populations are altered in response to global climate change. Brittany's Master's studies involved evaluating the performance of wastewater treatment systems designed to reduce nitrogen concentration. She enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, and all kinds of music.

 

Dustin Kincaid – Post Doc Vermont EPSCoR

I am a postdoctoral research associate with Vermont EPSCoR's Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) project at the University of Vermont. My research broadly focuses on aquatic environments and the coupled movement of water and elements (e.g., nutrients and metals) within water bodies and through landscapes. I currently study how carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and trace metals are transported from terrestrial ecosystems to headwater streams and from rivers to lakes. For my PhD, I studied (mucky) sediment-water interactions in shallow water bodies (i.e., small lakes, ponds, wetlands, and streams) with Steve Hamilton at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station.

 

Scott Hamshaw – Research Assistant Professor Civil & Environmental Engineering ,UVM

Scott's last day as a VT EPSCoR Post Doc was on 8/31/2019. He is now an Assistant Research Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) at the University of Vermont. Scott specializes in understanding the intersection of water resources and the built and natural environment. He has over 10 years of experience as a researcher, consultant, and educator. His research encompasses a combination of advanced computational methods (e.g. artificial neural networks) with field methods such as land surveying and environmental monitoring with sensors. At UVM, Scott is currently studying new methods to measure watershed erosion and sediment transport in river systems. He also researches the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in environmental sensing. He hopes to develop tools that help organizations better utilize and understand both existing environmental data and data from new technologies and sensors. These tools can be used to inform decision-making in watersheds and guide protection and management strategies. Scott completed a dual-degree bachelor program at University of Vermont and St. Michael's College, and subsequently worked for three years as a consulting civil engineer before returning to UVM to pursue M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering at the University of Vermont. Scott is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Vermont and has taught undergraduate courses in land surveying and mapping (geomatics).

 

Kristen Underwood - Research Assistant Professor, UVM

Kristen has more than three decades of academic and professional experience in water resources, bridging fields of aquatic ecology, fluvial geomorphology, hydrogeology and environmental engineering. Her current research involves the application of advanced computational tools to address environmental challenges in water resource management and to support pragmatic solutions within an adaptive management framework. She has used machine-learning algorithms and Bayesian inference to evaluate catchment dynamics and biogeochemical processing in rivers. Kristen has applied smart classifiers and Bayesian statistics, to better understand spatial and temporal variability in sediment and nutrient flux, to inform sustainable design of built and natural infrastructure for geomorphic and ecological compatibility, and to direct river corridor conservation and restoration activities for reduced flood losses.

 

Gabriela Bucini – Research Associate, Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative, UVM

My interest for human and ecological interactions has brought me through a variety of studies. More recently, my work has been centered on agricultural practices that sustain farmers and healthy systems. Agroecology in particular, with its attention to the ecological, social and scientific aspects of agriculture inspires my research efforts to contribute practical scientific insights towards building sustainable food systems. The academic training and research experience have provided me with data-analysis skills and a collaborative work attitude. I have completed my PhD studies at Colorado State University in 2010 and I have conducted research in South Africa, Guinea Bissau and the United States.

 

Jonathan Winter -BREE Climate Team Co-Leader, Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College

Climate is an important driver of human activities at local to global scales. My research and teaching explore climate prediction and the impacts of climate variability and change on water resources and agriculture. I have active projects in the following areas: (1) Developing high-resolution future climate scenarios for the Northeast using global and regional climate models, statistically downscaled datasets, and weather generators, (2) Evaluating mid-century water availability for irrigation across the Central Valley of California and its potential effects on crop yields, (3) Analyzing uncertainty in regional climate simulations of the water cycle over the American Midwest, and (4) Modeling and quantifying the agricultural implications of climate extremes, such as droughts, floods, and heat waves, in Central America.

 

Charlotte Cockburn – GRA Vermont EPSCoR, Dartmouth College

To better understand the connections between precipitation and flooding in the Northeastern United States, I am developing a statistical model to identify key meteorological and land surface drivers of river discharge in three different watersheds across a range of latitudes. I will then attempt to quantify the effects of climate change on flooding in the Northeast by forcing our developed statistical model with future predictions from a regional climate model.

 

Caitlin Crossett – GRA Vermont EPSCoR, UVM

Caitlin is pursuing a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont. Her research involves examining how heavy precipitation events and droughts impact the Lake Champlain Basin. Caitlin received her M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and B.S in Geoscience from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

 

Maike Holthuijzen – GRA Vermont EPSCoR, UVM

I am pursuing a Ph.D in Complex Systems and Data Science, and I have a diverse research and academic background. I received a BS in Ecology from the University of Idaho, where I studied the effects of burn severity on the regeneration of native and invasive species in the Pacific Northwest. I investigated the spatial association of perennial grasses and sagebrush over moisture and grazing gradients in the Great Basin ecosystem while pursuing an MS in Ecology and Utah State University. Recently, my research has focused on quantitative ecology, and I am working on finishing a study that compared the accuracies of five statistical and machine learning methods in predicting stream temperature over stream networks. I also have an MS in statistics from Utah State University. Presently, I am working on improving statistical models for climate data in the Northeastern United States.

 

Alan Betts – Owner, Atmospheric Research

Dr. Alan Betts of Atmospheric Research in Pittsford, Vermont is a leading climate scientist. He is a frequent speaker on climate change issues around the state and has worked on climate change adaptation planning for Vermont. He is a Weekly Planet columnist for the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus.

 

Brian Beckage - BREE Climate Team Co-Leader, Professor of Plant Biology, UVM

Dr. Beckage is an ecologist broadly interested in population and community dynamics including tree demography, maintenance of species richness, and the ecological effects of climate change. He emphasizes the use of quantitative approaches to investigate the mechanisms structuring ecological systems, including statistical models, analytical models, and computer simulation models.

 

Scott Turnbull – Software Developer, Vermont EPSCoR, UVM

Scott is a computer systems engineer with an M.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His duties within EPSCoR include simulation model integration development, software development infrastructure configuration and support, and the creation and administration of surveys. Scott has lived in the Champlain Valley of Vermont for 25 years. Enjoying the mountain trails, rivers, and lakes.

 

Patrick Clemins – Manager Cyberinfrastructure and Partnerships VT EPSCoR, UVM

Cyber Specialist for the Vermont EPSCoR program. In this role, he provides support to students and researchers across the state of Vermont using high performance computing (HPC) resources and promotes the proliferation of Internet2 access for Vermont's schools, museums, libraries, and other institutions of research and learning. Before moving to Vermont, he was the Director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program where he served as an international expert on the U.S. federal research and development investment, disseminating data and analyses through presentations, publications, and web content to a variety of audiences including national and international policy makers, scientific associations, journalists, and the research community. Prior to joining AAAS, he was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the Directorate for Biological Sciences. In the Division of Biological Infrastructure, he focused on fostering collaboration between the biological sciences and the computing and engineering research communities and the use of computing technologies for outreach and community building. He received his bachelors, masters, and doctorate in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Marquette University, focusing on machine learning, digital signal processing, and bioacoustics.

 

Imad Hannoun - President, Water Quality Solutions, Inc

Dr. Hannoun has provided technical analysis for numerous projects, working with engineering firms and government agencies. Over his career, he has acted as project manager for over 160 hydrodynamic and water quality investigations for municipal, government, and academic clients. Dr. Hannoun has extensive experience in the development and application of complex water quality models, ranging from one to three dimensional representations. Dr. Hannoun is a licensed engineer in Virginia, Nevada, and Arizona. Imad was recently presented the Friend of NALMS award in recognition of his work on lake management and his contribution to the NALMS organization.

 

Panagiotis (Takis) D. Oikonomou – Post Doc Vermont EPSCoR, UVM

Panagiotis Oikonomou joined Vermont EPSCoR in August 2019. His main focus as part of the BREE project is computational modeling of extreme events in coupled natural and human systems. Panagiotis holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in the field of Water Resources Planning and Management from Colorado State University. He was a postdoctoral scholar for two years at Colorado Water Center, Colorado State University, before joining the Vermont EPSCoR. Prior to his graduate studies in the USA, he received an M.Sc. in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of the Aegean, and a B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering, majoring in water resources, from the Agricultural University of Athens. Panagiotis has participated in several water-related funded research projects in the United States and the European Union. His research interests include extreme hydrologic events, hydroinformatics (big data, applied statistics, models, GIS, and decision support systems), integrated water resource management, and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.

 

Asim Zia - BREE Integrated Assessment Co-Leader, Professor Community Development and Applied Economics Dept., UVM

Dr. Zia investigates the role of adaptive decision making in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies at multiple governance levels. In particular, his research is focused on Policy Analysis of Complex Systems, Collaborative Governance Mechanisms and Meta-Decision Analysis.

 

Elizabeth M. B. Doran - Research Assistant Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UVM

Dr. Doran’s research interests include understanding and enabling adaptation and resilience within coupled human and natural systems in the context of land use planning, built environment, energy use and climate change. To do so, Dr. Doran uses a diverse array of experimental and dynamic modeling techniques.

 

Scott Merrill - Research Assistant Prof Plant & Soil Science, UVM

I am a Systems Ecologist with research spanning a wide range of both natural ecosystems and social-ecological systems. Projects include examining dynamics of change within pest-crop agroecosystems including aspects of climate change, examining ways to nudge human behavior to help protect the health of our livestock herds, and looking at factors motivating behavior that affects water quality in the Lake Champlain watershed. In the SEGS lab, I use experimental gaming as a novel technique for collecting data to examine decision making in social-ecological systems. An important goal of this work is the creation of applicable and predictive models to inform best management practices.

 

Stephanie Hurley - Associate Professor Department of Plant and Soil Science, UVM

Areas of Expertise Watershed Management, Stormwater Hydrology, Landscape Restoration, Urban Design My research integrates the fields of landscape architecture, land use planning, ecological restoration, and watershed protection. I take a holistic approach to sustainable landscape design, recognizing the inherent diversity of landscapes and practicing the art of place-making, while aiming to facilitate healthy societal and ecological interactions through design. My current research interests include analysis of watershed-scale impacts associated with urban and rural land uses, the application of green infrastructure for stormwater management, ecological agriculture, and working landscapes.

 

Sarah Coleman - Vermont Coordinator to the Lake Champlain Basin Program

Sarah completed her doctorate at the University of Vermont in Ecological Landscape Design and Environmental Governance in the Spring of 2018. She focused her work on bottom-up adaptive solutions including Green Stormwater Infrastructure and healthy agricultural soils, as strategies to protect Lake Champlain. Sarah also holds a Master of Science in the Agriculture, Food, and Environment program and a Water: Systems, Science and Society certificate from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Food Policy at Tufts University. While at Tufts, she concentrated her studies on Natural Resource Conservation and Food Security. Beyond her work studying Lake Champlain, Sarah’s pursuit of water quality, agroforestry, and conservation projects have taken her to Guatemala, the Andean Mountains in Ecuador, and the Bahamas. She has a variety of experiences teaching high school and college students, and has also had the opportunity to develop lessons and courses focused on water resource protection and conservation for multiple ages. Sarah is currently the Vermont Coordinator to the Lake Champlain Basin Program and helps manage federal funding for a variety of implementation, outreach, monitoring, and inventory projects across multiple sectors for the State of Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation.

 

Patrick Bitterman - Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and BREE Research Affiliate

I am an Assistant Professor of Geography in the School of Global Integrative Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My research interests include complex adaptive systems, GIScience, and environmental governance. Broadly speaking, I study multi-scale constraints on adaptation in social-ecological systems. More specifically, I build dynamic, spatially-explicit, coupled models that connect land use, governance, and water quality to further our understanding of how adaptive governance can affect the trajectory of social-ecological systems.

 

Richard Kujawa - Professor of Geography Chair Department of Environmental Studies and Science St. Michael's College

My research is most strongly linked with the development and implementation of policy. I have interests in policy related to cities and city regions but also at regional, national and global scale in environmental dimensions. In my own work and in collaborative research with students I’ve examined governance issues related to water, sustainability and climate change.

 

Clare Ginger - Associate Professor, Director of Natural Resources Program, UVM

In my teaching and research, I focus on how we define the intersection of the public interest with environment and natural resources through collective processes in varied organizational settings. This includes addressing dimensions of social justice and equity in environment and natural resources.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Keynote Speaker

 

Russell Moll - Director (former) Sea Grant California

Dr. Russell Moll has served as an ocean sciences researcher and administrator in a variety of capacities ranging from member of research teams, manager of a large overseas research project, Director of research programs, and Program Officer in the National Science Foundation. All of these activities have been in the field of aquatic sciences. His last appointment was as the Director of California Sea Grant located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego from 2000 to 2010. He now works as a consultant in ocean sciences, marine biology and marine ecology. He has conducted research in the nearshore marine environment, salt marshes, mangrove systems, the Great Lakes, small lakes, and temperate and tropical rivers. Dr. Moll has given numerous presentations to K-12 and adult audiences. He received a B.A. from the University of Vermont, M.S in marine science from Long Island University, M.S. in biostatistics from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. in marine ecology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
 
 

Panel on the State of Water Science in VT

 

Senator Patrick Leahy - President pro tempore of the United States Senate

Patrick Leahy was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. At 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected from the Green Mountain State. Senator Leahy is currently the president pro tempore of the United States Senate. Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the senior-most member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Leahy is the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. He ranks first in seniority in the Senate.

 

Julie Moore - Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR)

Julie Moore is the Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), the state agency with primary responsibility for protecting and sustaining Vermont’s environment, natural resources, wildlife and forests, and for maintaining Vermont’s beloved state parks. Moore was named to that position by Governor Phil Scott in January 2017. As ANR Secretary, Moore shapes Vermont’s environmental agenda, focusing on water quality, the forest economy, and the importance of conservation. She currently serves on the boards of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Vermont Council on Rural Development, as well as ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center.

 

Neil Kamman – Director of Water Investment Division, VT DEC

Neil Kamman is one of Vermont’s leading experts on surface water pollution, with a total 29 years of experience in the field of watershed management. He holds degrees in forestry (Bachelors), and water resources (MS), both from the University of Vermont. Neil presently serves as Director of Vermont's Water Investment Division in the Department of Environmental Conservation. Previously, Neil served as Senior Policy Advisor for DEC, and before that, as Manager of DECs Monitoring, Assessment and Planning Program. Under that Program, and as part of the 2015 Vermont Clean Water Act, Neil re-focused DECs tactical basin planning efforts to prioritize and deploy clean-water funding to the highest-priority pollution sources. Neil also coordinated development of the Vermont Surface Water Management Strategy which is DECs blueprint for successful water pollution cleanup. Earlier in his career, Neil conducted scientific research regarding environmental mercury contamination, and the ecological health of lakes and streams.

 

Eric Howe – Director Lake Champlain Basin Program

Eric became the Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program and Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership in 2016. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and an M.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont, and undergraduate degrees in environmental biology and ecology from SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry and Paul Smith’s College. His research experience includes examining the effects of shoreline development on the quality of shallow-water habitat in Vermont’s inland lakes and ponds, sea lamprey management in Lake Champlain, acid deposition on numerous Adirondack ponds, aquatic plant management, and extensive water quality monitoring experience in New York and Vermont. Eric lives in Williston, VT with his wife, two children, and a dog where he is an avid gardener and explores the art of freestyle cooking. Eric is also a member of the Williston Conservation Commission.

 

Breck Bowden - Director Vermont Sea Grant

Dr. Bowden is the Robert and Genevieve Patrick Professor in Watershed Science and Planning in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. He teaches undergraduate courses in the Environmental Sciences curriculum and graduate courses in the Aquatic of Ecology and Watershed sciences curriculum at the University of Vermont. He is the Director of the Vermont Water Resources in Lake Studies Center and leads the Vermont component of the Northeastern States Research Cooperative. In addition, he is the Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

 

Lori Fisher - Executive Director, Lake Champlain Committee

 
 
 
 

 

Andrew Schroth - BREE Ecological Systems Co-Leader, Research Associate Professor of Geology, UVM

Dr. Schroth’s biography can be found in the slam section of this webpage.

 

Asim Zia – BREE Integrated Assessment Co-Leader, Professor Community Development and Applied Economics Dept., UVM

Dr. Zia’s biography can be found in the slam section of this webpage.

 

Beverley Wemple - Professor Department of Geography, Department Chair of Geography, UVM

Dr. Wemple's research focuses on the dynamics of hydrologic and geomorphic processes in upland, forested watersheds. Her work examines the influence of land use practices on geophysical processes with a particular interest in using basic theoretical tools and simulation modeling, in conjunction with empirical field studies, to understand how management of the mountain landscape alters the processes of runoff generation and sediment production in steep, headwater catchments. Dr. Wemple's teaching reflects her interests in both physical geography and in geographic techniques. She teaches an introductory course in physical geography, which covers aspects of weather and climate, geomorphology, and biogeography. At the intermediate level, she teaches a field-based course in watershed processes (hydrology, geomorphology, and aquatic ecology) and a topics-based course in water resources management. Her advanced seminar class focuses on topics in human-environment interactions. She also teaches a course in Geographic Information Systems and an advanced course on Spatial Analysis. Dr. Wemple holds a B.A. in Economics and German from the University of Richmond (1986), an M.S. in Physical Geography from Oregon State University (1994), and a Ph.D. in Forest Ecology from Oregon State University (1998).
 

Broader Impacts

 

Baccalaureate Institution and Educational Impacts

 

Angela Irvine - Director of Foundation Relations and Sponsored Programs, Saint Michael's College

Experienced leader and administrator in the fields of higher education and non-profit organizations. Specific skills in government grants, foundation support and strategic leadership.

 

Andrew Vermilyea - Associate Professor Analytical/Environmental Chemistry Castleton State College

I have a diverse academic background grounded in Chemistry. As an undergraduate at Hamilton College, I pursued a senior project on the anoxic, abiotic degradation of chlorinated solvents on the surface on biogenic magnetite minerals. This project along with some other summer research experiences motivated me to apply for graduate programs in EnvironmentalChemistry. In graduate school at the Colorado School of Mines, I continued to study contaminate degradation, but this work focused on sunlit surface waters where indirect photochemical degradation was our main mechanistic focus. These mechanisms include reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical, and sometimes iron (as with the photo Fenton Reaction). Additionally, I studied and quantified biological rates of ROS production in freshwater bodies and during cruises in the Gulf of Alaska and around Bermuda. These reactions are important because ROS influence the bioavailability of redox active metals, some of which are trace and limiting nutrients (such as iron in the Pacific Ocean). My post doctorate work at the University of Alaska Southeast broadened my research interests to include much larger scale systems. Here I tried to understand how landscapes and the very small mechanistic processes I have studied in the past influence the total export of nutrients from watersheds to a very productive coastal ecosystem like the Gulf of Alaska. The major question of interest to me for the coastal AK ecosystem is...how will nutrient export from these glaciated watersheds and the productivity in coastal waters change as our climate continues to warm and the glaciers continue to melt?

 

Janel Hanrahan - Associate Professor Atmospheric Sciences Lyndon State College

Before joining the full-time Atmospheric Sciences faculty in 2012, Janel Hanrahan earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics with a strong focus in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her dissertation work included the investigation of Lake Michigan-Huron water levels and their connection to historic climate variability and anthropogenically-forced climate change. Following graduate school, Dr. Hanrahan worked as researcher at the University of Alberta where she studied changes in rainfall in the Canadian Plains region and examined procedures for model optimization. Through dynamical and statistical downscaling, she is currently interested in identifying connections between large-scale climate modes and local rainfall patterns and trends. In addition, she is interested in investigating how regional weather will be modified under climate change and what impact this may have on renewable energy sources.
 
 

Undergraduate Highlights

 

Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez - Coordinator of the VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development & Diversity, UVM

Dr. Sosa-Gonzalez first came to VT as a summer intern for EPSCoR in 2009, and she has been involved with EPSCoR in different capacities since. Most recently, Veronica served as an Outreach Professional for VT EPSCoR, where she assisted summer interns and mentors to ensure students' wellbeing and success. Dr. Sosa-Gonzalez traveled extensively in this position to help with diversity outreach recruitment at various institutions both locally and around the country including attending SACNAS – The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science- an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) national meetings.
 
 

High School Highlights

 

Janel Roberge - Operations Manager CWDD, St. Michael's College

Janel is the Operations Manager for the Vermont EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity. Janel has a BS in Biology from Saint Michael's College and is working towards a Master's degree in Education. She was herself an EPSCoR Streams Project Undergraduate Intern many years ago and is thrilled to continue her involvement with VT EPSCoR! Janel is happiest in waders and enjoys getting young people excited about interacting with nature and seeing their place in the world of STEM.

 

Declan McCabe - Professor of Biology, Biology Department Chair, St. Michael's College

My primary area of expertise is in the ecology of freshwater communities. My research with student collaborators is on the interactions among aquatic species, factors that affect biodiversity, and different ways to measure diversity. Currently I am working on the restoration of natural function in forests and wetlands on Saint Michael's College property. My students are also using trail cameras to document coyote, bobcat, and other mammalian visitors to the Saint Michael’s College natural areas.
 
 

Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Associate Alumni Testimonials

 

Matt Vaughan - Technical Coordinator at Lake Champlain Basin Program

Dr. Vaughan is the Technical Coordinator at the Lake Champlain Basin Program. His research focuses on the influence of land use and land cover on water quality and biogeochemical processes. His current research uses optical water quality sensors to determine the origin and transport of pollutants during storm events.

 

Jody Stryker - Senior Environmental Modeler, Stone Environmental

Jody has an interdisciplinary background in environmental sciences and engineering, with a focus on hydrological processes and sediment transport. Prior to her employment at Stone Environmental, she developed and applied a model for simulating geotechnical failure of streambanks in the context of distributed watershed modeling. She made critical contributions to building an integrated assessment model for understanding the role of climate change on nutrient and sediment fluxes in the Lake Champlain Basin. Her expertise includes small scale model applications as well as broad understanding of environmental topics.

 

Erin Seybold - Aquatic Biogeochemist at the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas

Dr. Seybold’s research integrates concepts from biogeochemistry, watershed hydrology, and ecosystem ecology to understand how nutrients and carbon move through watersheds and river networks.

 

Peter Isles - Aquatic Biologist, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation

Lake Champlain water quality monitoring, zebra mussel, algae, and cyanobacteria monitoring on Lake Champlain and selected inland waters.

 

Jory Hecht - Hydrologist at United States Geological Survey

Interdisciplinary hydrologist and water resources engineer with international experience.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Private Sector Highlights

 

Susan Tappan - Scientific Director, Microbrightfield

I’m a developmental neuroscientist with a keen interest in stereology and other methods of quantification. At MBF Bioscience, I serve as the Scientific Director, leading our research efforts through NIH, DoD and other funding sources. I also direct our stereology contract research facility, MBF Labs. My passion is identifying practical solutions to biomedical analysis needs that balance the essential requirement of reproducibility as well as person-hour effort.

 

Ben Kinnaman - President & CDO, Greensea Systems, Inc.

Having spent my career in the marine industry, as a diver, an ROV pilot, and an engineer, I founded Greensea in 2006 to advance the development and use of marine robotics through open architecture technologies. We develop and maintain OPENSEA, the only commercially managed open architecture software framework specifically designed for manned and unmanned system within the marine industry.
 
 
 
 

Cyberinfrastructure Investments

 

Patrick Clemins - Manager Cyberinfrastructure and Partnerships VT EPSCoR, UVM

Dr. Clemin’s biography can be found in the slam section of this webpage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Scholarship Awards

 

Lindsay Kurrle - Secretary of Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development

Lindsay Kurrle is the secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the office in charge of economic development, housing, and community development. It has a budget of about $37 million and 80 employees.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Way Forward

 

Kirk Dombrowski - Vice President for Research, UVM

I currently serve as the Vice President for Research at the University of Vermont-a comprehensive public, land grant university that is also home to one of the oldest medical schools in the United States. This position gives me the opportunity to build on my personal and professional experience as an interdisciplinary researcher in an institution that values the creation of knowledge in the service of ethics and public service—values that very much match my own. At UVM I have overseen a significant increase in award funding, created a new Office of Engagement to “amplify the impact” of UVM on Vermont, and I have led the creation of new corporate and community partnerships that make these goals concrete and meaningful for the people in the state. Throughout my career I have been guided by the vision of Vermont Senator Justin Morrill whose name sake act created a national system of land-grant public universities that are “accessible to all, but especially to the [children] of toil, where all of needful science for the practical avocations of life shall be taught.” After 20 years in public university education, I remain happy to serve that cause.