WATERSHED SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

Faculty and Staff

Program Director

Benjamin R. Hayes, Ph.D., P.G.

Ben directs the Watershed Sciences and Engineering Program, co-teaches courses in Stream Restoration and Bucknell On the Susquehanna, and helps students and faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology, and Biology.

Ben's current research is primarily within the Susquehanna River basin, but he has worked in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southwestern regions of the United States as well as in Iceland, South Africa, Canada, and Costa Rica.


Research Interests:

    • fluvial geomorphology and river hydraulics
    • wetlands hydrology and restoration
    • impacts of land use and climate change



Contact

Center for Sustainability and the Environment
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1830
benjamin.hayes@bucknell.edu

Project Scientist

Sean P. Reese, M.S.

Sean oversees the maintenance and calibration of the program river monitoring network on the Susquehanna River. He leads teaching sojourns for classes in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology, and Biology.

Sean's current research is primarily within the Susquehanna River basin, but he has worked in the Delaware, Monongahela, Ohio, Mississippi rivers as well as in Belize, Mexico, and Canada.


Research Interests:

    • freshwater mussels
    • mid-Atlantic fisheries
    • aquatic ecosystems
    • river diving



Contact

Center for Sustainability and the Environment
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.3699
sean.reese@bucknell.edu

Aquatic Ecology

Matthew M. McTammany, Ph.D.

Matt has helped grow the WSE program from its beginning in 2006. An Associate Professor in Biology, Matt teaches classes in Aquatic Ecology, Limnology, and Stream Restoration and takes students to field stations at Miller Run, Montandon Marsh, Chillisquaque Natural Area, Roaring Creek, and Ards wetlands. He established the water quality monitoring stations on the Susquehanna River at Milton and Danville and co-written numerous grants with other WSE faculty and staff. Each summer, Matt oversees a team of undergraduate and graduate Biology students, directing their aquatic ecology research and connecting their work with the WSE program. He contributes regularly to the vision and strategic planning of the program and its annual Susquehanna River Symposium.


Research Interests:

    • stream ecology and river metabolism
    • carbon and nutrient dynamics in ecosystems
    • human impact on aquatic ecosystems



Contact

Department of Biology
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.3975
matthew.mctammany@bucknell.edu

Botany

Chris Martine, Ph.D.

Chris oversees a large botanical research program that takes him to watersheds around the world. The David Burpee Chair in Plant Genetics & Research, Chris also directs the Manning Herbarium in the Department of Biology at Bucknell. In his field botany classes, his students explore the meadows and forests of the Susquehanna watershed. He has supervised several student research studies of the impact of invasive plants such as Japanese Knotweed on riparian forest communities and contributed to the annual Susquehanna River Symposium.


Research Interests:

    • pollination and seed dispersal
    • invasive plant biology and management
    • meadow and forest plant communities in the mid-Atlantic region
    • natural history



Contact

Department of Biology
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1135
chris.martine@bucknell.edu

Aquatic Ecology

Mizuki Takahashi, Ph.D.

An Assistant Professor of Biology, Mizukiy leads student field trips to local streams and wetlands throughout the Susquehanna watershed. His research interests include evolutionary ecology, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology of amphibians. An expert in hellbenders, Mizuki and his students have several studies underway in tributaries to the West Branch.


Interests:

    • amphibian biology
    • conservation genetics
    • ecology and evolution



Contact

Department of Biology
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1142
mizuki.takahashi@bucknell.edu

Aquatic Ecology

Steve Jordan, Ph.D.

Steve is a molecular systematist and entomologist who has done extensive work in the Pacific Islands and Europe, and most recently in the alpine regions of Montana. An Associate Professor of Biology, Steve and his students also visit the lakes, streams and wetlands of the Susquehanna watershed, with several student teams conducting brook trout assessments as part of the unassessed waters program by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Steve is an active participant in quarterly Watershed Sciences Program faculty team meetings and contributes to the strategic planning of the program.


Research Interests:

    • systematics
    • entomology
    • invertebrate zoology



Contact

Department of Biology
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1254
steve.jordan@bucknell.edu

Geomorphology and Fluvial Processes

R. Craig Kochel, Ph.D.

A world-renowned geomorphologist who studies surficial processes and landscapes on both Earth and Mars, Craig helped create the Susquehanna River Initiative and the Bucknell Environmental Center in 2006 and grow them into the Watershed Sciences and Engineering Program and the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment today. He continues to serve in key faculty role in the WSE Program's mission and scholarship, connecting his geomorphology and stream restoration courses to the program and supervising student research on the Susquehanna River and its tributary streams.


Research Interests:

    • geomorphology and surficial processes
    • catchment hydrology and flooding
    • groundwater and surface water interactions



Contact

Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.3032
kochel@bucknell.edu

Geochemistry

Carl Kirby, Ph.D.

Carl is an aqueous geochemist with extensive experience with alkalinity and acidity measurements in mine drainage and municipal solid waste ash characterization. A Professor of Geology and Fellow of the Geological Society of America, Carl takes students to abandone mine discharges throughout Pennsylvania coal regions and has designed and built wetland treatment systems to remediate impacted streams. He has been active in the leadership and growth of the Environmental Center since its inception in 2006 and continues to contribute to the Watershed Sciences Program through his leadership to the Marcellus Shale Initiative.


Research Interests:

    • acid precipitation and interactions with geology and fisheries
    • geochemistry and treatment of abandoned mine discharges
    • natural gas extraction and associated water-rock interactions



Contact

Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1385
kirby@bucknell.edu

Environmental Geophysics and Hydrology

Robert Jacob, Ph.D.

Rob is an environmental geophysicist with extensive environmental consulting and academic research experience with gravity, seismic, ground-penetrating radar, and electromagnetic methods to non-invasively map surface and shallow subsurface hydrogeologic features in North America, New Zealand, and Europe (Greece). An Associate Professor of Geology, he has played a leadership role in connecting students to the WSE programs field sites at Montandon Marsh and Miller Run. He has also supervise student research through the WSE program to use gravity methods to map paleochannels of the Susquehanna River near Muncy, PA. Rob continues to serve as a key faculty role in the Program meetings and strategic planning efforts.


Research Interests:

    • non-invasive monitoring of subsurface hydrology
    • remote sensing and terrain mapping/modeling
    • environmental geophysics
    • mapping buried anthropogenic and fluvial features



Contact

Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.1791
robert.jacob@bucknell.edu

Hydrogeology and Karst Hydrology

Ellen Herman, Ph.D.

Ellen is a hydrogeologist specializing in the study of karst aquifer systems and landscapes formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. An Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Ellen and her geology students have several projects examining how water and sediment flow through and shape karst systems. She collaborates with researchers around the world and within the Susquehanna watershed. Ellen also regularly contributes to the Watershed Sciences and Engineering program faculty plenary discussions.


Research Interests:

    • karst hydrology and subsurface fluid flow
    • sediment transport in karst aquifers
    • karst geology and topography



Contact

Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.3088
ellen.herman@bucknell.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Jessica Newlin, Ph.D., P.E.

Jessica is an Assitant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering specializing in river mechanics, hydrologic modeling, wetlands hydrology, and ground and surface water interactions. A licensed professional engineer with several years experience at the U.S. Geological Survey, she has been instrumental in growing the engineering component of our program. She integrates her upper-level river mechanics and groundwater hydrology classes with the WSE staff and established the stream hydrology and sediment transport monitoring station on White Deer Creek in 2010. She continues to connect her student research interns with field studies and presents them at national conferences. Jess serves as a Faculty Advisor to the Center for Sustainability and the Environment and contributes to the vision and mission of the Watershed Sciences program.


Research Interests:

    • fluvial hydraulics and geomorphology
    • impacts of land use and climate change
    • groundwater and surface water interactions



Contact

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.
jessica.newlin@bucknell.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Richard Crago, Ph.D.

As a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rich teaches class in hydrology and fluid mechanics and studies surface-atmosphere interactions such as evapotranspiration, land surface energy and water balances, and atmospheric boundary layer dynamics. In his work with the Watershed Sciences and Engineering program, Rich is directing students on stream restoration in local streams and valley regions and is part of the team of faculty instrumenting and gaging campus drainage networks, including Miller. Rich is active in the faculty advisory group and contributes to the vision and strategic planning of the program.


Research Interests:

    • surface water hyrology
    • hydraulics of open channel flow
    • remote sensing & GIS in hydrology



Contact

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.
richard.crago@bucknell.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Matthew Higgins, Ph.D.

Matt is Professor of Civil and Environmental and holds the Claire E. Carlson Chair in Environmental Engineering. He overseteaches classes in water resources engineering, fluid mechanics, physical and chemical treatment process and conducts research in the departments laboratories on bacterial disinfection and non-culturable bacteria in treatment processes, coagulation/flocculation and bioflocculation, and Endocrine disruptors in water and wastewater treatment. Several years ago, Matt partnered with the Union County Conservation District and a local farmer to construct two wetlands that capture runoff from two farms and passively removed nutrients and other pollutants. He is collaborating with staff at Environmental Center to instrument these wetlands to develop accurate water budgets and numerical models.


Research Interests:

    • passive wetland treatment systems
    • endocrine disrupters in water
    • industrial wastewater treatment



Contact

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.
matthew.higgins@bucknell.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Michael Malusis, Ph.D., P.E.

Mike is an Associate Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for the 2015-16 Academic Year. An recognized expert in soil mechanics, ground improvement and geoenvironmental engineering, he recently was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to install an instrumented slurry wall for teaching and research purposes at the program's Montandon Marsh field facility. Mike regularly contributes to WSE team meetings to find ways to incorporate geotechnics and environmental remediation technologies a vital part of any watershed sciences and engineering program.


Research Interests:

    • contaminant transport and waste containment
    • polymer-clay nanocomposits
    • waste-soil compatibility



Contact

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.
michael.malusis@bucknell.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Jeffrey Evans, Ph.D., P.E.

A world-renowned geotechnical engineer, Jeff is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and co-PI with Mike Malusis and Rob Jacob on the NSF-sponsored slurry wall project at the WSE Program's Montandon Marsh field site. He also helps the program director with strategic planning and ensuring Civil and Environmental Engineering is a strong component of the program.


Research Interests:

    • hazardous waste site remediation
    • slurry trench cutoff wallss
    • environmental geotechnics



Contact

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570.577.
jeffrey.evans@bucknell.edu

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