CWEST awards graduate student funds for collaborative CU-USGS research

CU graduate students Anna Hermes and Isaac Bukoski each receive CWEST Graduate Research Fellowship funding for their respective CU-USGS research projects.

CWEST brings together the expertise and facilities of both the U.S. Gological Survey (USGS) and the University of Colorado (CU) to advance our understanding of our planet’s earth and hydrologic systems. In a recent effort to directly expand pathways for CU collaborations with the USGS, the CWEST Graduate Research Fellowship was established. After the first application round in Fall 2017, CWEST is thrilled to announce that CU graduate students Anna Hermes (INSTAAR/Environmental Studies) and Isaac Bukoski (INSTAAR/Geography) are the recipients of the CWEST Graduate Research Fellowship.

Fire and Wine: When disturbance and agriculture meet in the Napa River Watershed

Anna Hermes’s project, Fire and Wine: When disturbance and agriculture meet in the Napa River Watershed builds off of her PhD research, which aims to trace the ultimate fates and ecological consequences of agricultural sulfur in downstream aquatic ecosystems, and responds to the October 2017 wildfires in California. The CWEST Graduate Research Fellowship funds will allow Anna to address a now timely research question: Does wildfire enhance the mobility and reactivity of S and C exported from soils to streams? Her research will contribute to a broader understanding of how wildfire and land management interact, influencing the quantity and quality of water resources.

Co-advising this research is Dr. Eve-Lyn Hinckley (INSTAAR/Environmental Studies), Dr. Brian Ebel (USGS Research Hydrologist, Lakewood) and Sheila Murphy (USGS Research Hydrologist, Boulder). The three scientists have worked collaboratively on other research projects in the Colorado Front Range, including with the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BCCZO), and look forward to their first opportunity to co-mentor a graduate student. Murphy and Ebel are excited to provide Anna access and training at the USGS’s laboratory facilities in Boulder and Lakewood. Additionally, more time at the USGS’s Boulder facility will allow Anna to connect with Dr. Blaine McCleskey in the Geochemical Modeling of Acid water/Redox Chemistry Lab, and also Dr. Brett Poulin in the Organic Carbon Migration in Aquatic Environments Lab. Anna and her co-advisors bring a combined understanding of terrestrial and aquatic biogeochemistry, sustainability science, and fire impacts on hydrology and water quality. Anna’s project is at the forefront of linking scientific understanding with land management, and will strengthen bonds between CU and the USGS.

 

Linking Catchment Structure, Water Sources and Flowpaths during Rain and Snowmelt Events in the Front Range of Colorado

Isaac Bukoski’s funded project, Linking Catchment Structure, Water Sources and Flowpaths during Rain and Snowmelt Events in the Front Range of Colorado will serve as the core of his Master’s thesis. The CWEST Graduate Research fellowship funds support his research goal to identify and describe relationships between catchment structure and hydrologic flowpaths and sources in the montane and foothills region of the BCCZO. This research will improve our knowledge of the role of landscape processes and their impact on water quality and quantity in the foothills and montane regions of the Colorado Front Range, an understudied region that conveys and stores critical water supplies yet is disproportionally vulnerable to disturbances.

Isaac’s project will be co-advised by Dr. Holly Barnard (INSTAAR/Geography) and Sheila Murphy (USGS Research Hydrologist, Boulder). His previous experience as an employee at the USGS New England Water Science Center gives him a strong watershed-scale hydrologic research background. It also led him to contact Murphy during his CU application process. Murphy studies the effects of landscape disturbances on water quality. Her and Dr. Bob Stallard's research laboratory is used to prepare field instruments for deployment and to process and study environmental samples. Even though Muphy and Barand had never worked together, early discussions between between the two scientists revealed they had common research interests in critical water supply problems. Thanks to his initiative, Isaac helped forge a new research collaboration between CU and the USGS. Both co-advisors are excited to work with Isaac and see where the collaboration takes them.

 

The CWEST Graduate Research Fellowship is a young and evolving funding source for graduate students who want to engage in collaborative CU-USGS research. CWEST will be re-opening the fellowship at the end of February 2018 and applications will be due at the end of the spring semester. Be sure to visit CWEST’s Student Funding Opportunities webpage for updates. 

 

Written by Lauren Tomkinson with permission and edits from Anna Hermes and Isaac Bukoski.