Josh Koch

  • U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Josh Koch, a research hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the Alaska Science Center in Anchorage has been in his current role for over a decade. He currently is the primary investigator representing the USGS on the Arctic Rivers Project. 

Growing up in eastern Pennsylvania he developed a connection to water through canoeing. He finds it a unique and rewarding way to understanding rivers, “You just go at the speed of the water and you can’t really do anything about that, it teaches you a little bit just to let go and experience...lots of times you can’t even see over the river bank, so the whole rest of the world disappears.”

Josh’s graduate and professional research has primarily taken place in Alaska. He believes that Alaska offers a unique environment to conduct research and that the state is a place where collaboration between communities and researchers is thriving. Josh hopes to continue working in Alaska and has ideas for future research topics ready to go. His goal for this project is simple, straightforward, and something that we can all get behind, he says “If we accomplish what we set out to accomplish, it would be a home run.”