My research is grounded in hydrology and draws on theoretical frameworks and methodologies from sustainability science and applied data science. I am interested in questions that revolve around the complex interlinkages surrounding water as a natural resource, an environmental driver, and a pillar of human well-being. I employ high fidelity hydrological modeling, geospatial analysis, machine learning, and various field data collection and stakeholder engagement techniques to probe questions about water quantity and quality from a human-environment systems perspective.

Communicating Lessons from Interdisciplinary Disaster Research through Environmental Storytelling

Our audio series, Carried by Water, is out now! Listen via the link above. As part of the Blue Lab's Climate Stories Incubator, I am leading a multimedia storytelling project to synthesize and communicate key lessons learned from a decade's worth of scholarly research and lived experiences from the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) disaster in the central Philippines. The Blue Lab is an environmental storytelling, research, and art group led by Dr. Allison Carruth. I led a team to collect oral histories from coastal communities that were devastated by Haiyan. Our team spoke to survivors of the storm, as well as local researchers, government officials, weather forecasters, and civic organizations involved in the still ongoing recovery process. Through a series of podcasts and photographic essays, the project will explore themes of human-water relations, perceptions of home, climate change and extreme weather, risk communication, and the meaning of resilience and "build back better".

Hybrid Approaches for Modeling Hydrologic Processes

Hydrologic processes have traditionally been modeled using physically based approaches that utilize the numerical solution of differential equations. One challenge with such physically based modeling is that as the models expand into larger spatial scales or higher resolutions, the computational requirements can rapidly become intractable. Metamodels, or machine learning models trained to emulate the behavior of physically based models, offer a promising avenue to address this issue. Supervised by Dr. Reed Maxwell at the Integrated GroundWater Modeling Center, I am studying the complementary use of continental scale, physically based, integrated surface water and groundwater models and metamodels. I am currently examining the predictive performance and spatial transferability of metamodels in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Parallel to these computational approaches, I also collected water samples for independent validation of the models against tracer-based measurements.

WATer & Energy Resources (WATER) Study

The WATER Study, led by PI's Dr. James Saiers and Dr. Nicole Deziel, is an interdisciplinary research project that examines the impact of unconventional energy development on groundwater quality and public health in the Appalachian Basin. I developed high resolution, three-dimensional groundwater flow and contaminant transport models and machine learning metamodels for our study areas in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. I compiled publicly available data and performed geospatial analyses to identify target areas for sampling, and I was also part of the field team that collected groundwater samples from domestic water wells. Through complementary approaches from hydrogeology and geochemistry, we aimed to better understand the mechanisms affecting groundwater quality in this region. In collaboration with epidemiologists, we are investigating novel, interdisciplinary, mechanistic approaches that leverage hydrological models and water quality observations to interpret adverse human health outcomes from exposures to chemicals used in the industry. The project hopes to develop a systematic, process-based platform supporting science-informed policy-making to safeguard local aquifers, protect public health, and promote environmental justice.

Enhancing the Resilience of Rice Terrace Farming Systems against Climate Change

This international study, led by PI Dr. Srikantha Herath, was a transdisciplinary research project that explored the impacts of climate change and socioeconomic pressures on the sustainability of the centuries-old Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Philippines and the Hani Rice Terraces in China. I first became involved with the project as an undergrad when, for my senior research with Prof. Peter Castro, I calculated water budget components for the terraces and simulated the influence of various engineering design components (terrace wall height, slope, presence of internal drains) on the subsurface water redistribution in a single terrace using two-dimensional cross-section models. I continued to work with the project after college, becoming heavily involved in the selection, instrumentation, and three-year monitoring of an experimental headwater catchment in Ifugao. For my master's thesis, I constructed an integrated surface water-groundwater-slope stability model of the experimental catchment to assess the potential impacts under several climate and land-use change scenarios. Throughout the project, we conducted interviews and focus group discussions with indigenous farmers, government officials, and other local stakeholders to continuously reevaluate the relevance of our research questions and incorporate community concerns into our objectives.