Research

Interactions between people, climate, and landscapes

How do humans and climate shape the surface of the Earth? This overarching question drives my research. My approach includes using both the Quaternary record and modern geomorphic processes to quantify rates and types of landscape change. My research is steeped in the proud geologic tradition of field-based methods and I am always looking for new ways to use technology to measure the Earth. Lately this has involved using UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to collect high resolution aerial imagery. I supplement field analysis with a wide array of laboratory techniques including radiocarbon dating, Laser diffraction particle size analysis, optically stimulated luminescence, XRD, XRF, and GIS.

Research Projects

Impacts of the Walla Walla River flood of February 2020

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Landscapes and Ecology

Mojave Desert ecology, geomorphology, and soils

Military Impacts on Desert Piedmonts in the Mojave Desert

Human Resilience and Geologic Processes in the Island of Four Mountains

Stream Restoration on the Walla Walla River

Coupled weathering-erosion of small channels in the Lake Erie Drainage Basin

Rocktype controls on hillslope evolution in the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico

Modeling Missoula Floods landforms using structure from motion

Surficial Processes Lab

At Whitman College we have many field and lab based instruments that we use to measure the Earth. Check out our lab page for more details.

Lab Equipment

• Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer
• GIS lab with software for SFM
• Stream Table
• Ro-Tap Sieves Shaker

Field Equipment

• RTK GPS with network capabilities
• UAV Fleet of DJI quadcopters
• Soil Corer
• Autolevels
• Robotic Total Station
• Schmidt Hammer
• Soil Infiltrometers