Career Area: Aquatic Biogeochemistry, Spectral Geophysics and Remote Sensing in Polar and High Mountain Regions
Degree earned at CU Boulder and year: PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016
Title and name of the company you currently work for: Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Western Washington University
A little about your career path: While completing my Bachelors of Science in Public Health in Environmental Science and Engineering at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, I gained valuable undergraduate research experience on water quality, sanitation and health in developing countries like Cambodia and Bangladesh. At the same time, I had a growing interest in human-environmental interactions. After accepting a graduate position in the Environmental Engineering program at CU-Boulder, I learned I had been awarded a NSF-Graduate Research Fellowship. I was able to defer that while completing my MS and during that time was sent to work as a hydrology field research assistant for the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program under the direction of my graduate advisor, Diane McKnight. While in Antarctica, I caught 'polar fever' and began exploring ways to connect my developing research interests. I found my research interests came together nicely through the application of environmental chemistry to document human impacts in polar regions. I now combine ground-based observations of aquatic biogeochemistry with UAV and satellite remote sensing to detect, map and monitor surface optical properties of the cryosphere, including constituents like black carbon, dust and snow algae.
List of topics students can ask you about: Environmental engineering applications to cryosphere and climate studies. Academic/career path, etc.
Best email address to contact you: alia.khan@wwu.edu