B.S. Geology, Allegheny College
M.S. Geology, Western Washington University
Ph.D. Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• BEARTH 318 Hydrogeology
• BEARTH 320 Impacts of Climate Change
• BEARTH 341 Natural Hazards and Human Disasters
• BES 303 Environmental Monitoring Practicum
• BIS 392 Water and Sustainability

One of my goals is to engage students in the content and objectives of my courses with more interactive and experiential teaching methods. What a student does tends to stick with them more than what they hear in a lecture. Consequently, my courses feature class discussions, debates, student presentations, group work, and many homework assignments requiring an active effort to master the course objectives. As a geologist, oceanographer, and environmental scientist, I am also an advocate of independent field and laboratory work. Students learn and retain more by both figuring things out for themselves and getting out into the environments being discussed. Discovery-based, hands-on learning is the best!

I am also committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment in my courses. Everyone has value in my classroom. Everyone is afforded respect.

My research and scholarship falls into two distinct (but sometimes overlapping) categories: Water Contamination and Remediation Research and Sustainability Teaching Scholarship.

I maintain a program of supported water quality research primarily for the sake of my students. The series of research projects that I’ve fostered over the years have greatly enhanced my Environmental Monitoring Practicum course and provided funding, sites, and interested community partners for my students engaged in independent research. Current grant funded projects include field and lab-based investigations of: 1) the levels and genetic sources of E. coli contamination in Bothell Creeks and 2) the efficacy of floating treatment wetlands in reducing stormwater contaminants, particularly 6PPD-q from tire wear, flowing into local streams, retention ponds, and lakes.

I am also a musician in a band with other UW Bothell faculty.