Officers
Deborah Martin, President
Based on my career as a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and my experiences living in the Foothills outside of Boulder, Colorado, I have a strong belief that fire and water (and its scarcity) go hand in hand in arid Southwest ecosystems. My research at the USGS was focused on the hydrologic effects of wildfire and, though I retired from the USGS in 2017, I have maintained a strong interest in that topic.
I have been a Trustee of the Rocky Mountain Hydrologic Research Center for over 15 years. My passions are my family, friends and a fascination with the complex interactions of climate, plants, animals, soil and land use history and the important role water plays in mediating those interactions.
Sharon Bywater-Reyes, Vice President
I am a geomorphologist and geology professor at University of Northern Colorado. I received a Bachelor’s in Geology and German Language and Culture from Southern Oregon University in 2007, a Master’s in Geology from University of Wyoming in 2009, and a PhD in Fluvial Geomorphology in 2015. My dissertation topic considered interactions between riparian vegetation and river processes. For my postdoctoral position, I researched forest harvest impacts on hydrology and water quality at Oregon State University. In my current position at UNC, I conduct research on river restoration effectiveness, post-fire hydrogeomorphic processes, hillslope erosion as a function of lithology and land use, and continue to study vegetation-river interactions. I am the president of the Laramide Chapter of the Association for Women Geoscientists and dedicate much of my time to equity and inclusion in the geosciences. In my free time, I enjoy spending time outside, exercising, xeriscaping, crafting, and hanging out with my dogs and family.
Andrew Earles, Secretary
I have been interested in water since I was a child playing in creeks in Virginia, where I grew up. I graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, and I moved to Colorado in 1999 after completing graduate studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. I have worked at Wright Water Engineers, Inc. (WWE), a Denver-based consulting firm since I moved to Colorado, and I currently lead WWE’s practice related to hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport, and related topics. In the early 2000’s I conducted work at Los Alamos National Laboratory evaluating risks from the Cerro Grande wildfire, and ever since I have been fascinated by mud and debris flows, performing more than a dozen post-fire hazard evaluations across the western United States. I also have conducted work developing drainage and water quality criteria for many municipalities in Colorado and the west, and I have led several efforts over the past decade related to major updates to the Mile High Flood District’s Urban Storm Drainage Criteria Manual.
I live in Boulder with my wife, two sons, two dogs, and two cats. I enjoy spending time outside and spend a lot of time in close contact with water through frequent lap swimming. Our family enjoys music, and my oldest son frequently plays with local bluegrass bands when he is home from college.
John Moody, Treasurer
I grew up in Colorado and love water. After graduating from CU with a degree in Physics, my wife and I migrated to Long Island and then to Cape Cod where I taught high school and college classes in Marine Biology, Oceanography, and Physics. I spent one summer working with Bob Meade (hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey) to recover and resurvey cross sections on the meandering Powder River in southeastern Montana after a 50-year flood in 1978.
I left teaching to work for the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, Massachusetts as a physical oceanographer studying sediment transport and ocean currents. In 1986, Bob offered me a job with the USGS in Denver on a multidiscipline project studying sediment-transported pollutants in the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
My family (four kids, two dogs, two cats, and a guinea pig) returned to Colorado in 1987 and I worked on the Mississippi River project for about 10 years but continued to study the geomorphic changes of Powder River. In 1996, I became interested in the cause and impacts of post wildfire runoff and erosion after the Buffalo Creek Fire southwest of Denver, Colorado. This research kept me busy for 20 years. I retired from the USGS in 2019 but continue as a Scientist Emeritus studying Powder River.
Trustees
Holly Barnard
I grew up in Indiana and when I was 19, I spent a summer in Colorado and fell in love with the forest and mountains. I followed this love to the University of Washington where trees, water, and mountains are abundant. In the UW College of Forestry, I found outstanding mentors in Dr. Tom Hinckley and Dr. Linda Brubaker who created a path for me to go to graduate school. I attended Colorado State University for my M.S. and later returned to the Pacific Northwest to earn my PhD from Oregon State University. A love of trees, water, and dogs has been a constant in my life, as well as a commitment to broadening participation and opportunities for marginalized identities in science. My happy place is in the forest with a dog or two or three. I’m currently faculty at the University of Colorado in the Department of Geography and the co-director of the CU Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Program.
Don Frevert
I spent most of my childhood in Tucson, Arizona and after graduating from high school I attended the University of Arizona and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Hydrology. I then moved to Fort Collins and received both my MS (Civil Engineering) and PhD (Irrigation and Drainage Engineering) from CSU.
During that time, I married my wife Carmen. I began my career working for a small consulting firm and I ultimately finished my career with the US Bureau of Reclamation in the field of water resources management.
We have two grown up children – a son and a daughter and we now have six wonderful grandchildren. Since we are both retired now we have plenty of “grandkid” time which brings us endless joy and happiness.
During my spare time I volunteer for our church (Our Lady of Fatima in Lakewood), the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Environmental and Water Resources Institute and, of course for RMHRC.
Ellie Griffin
In 1980 I was awarded a BS degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After serving 5 and 1/2 years as a Communications-Electronics officer in the U.S. Army and 7 years as a Communication Systems Engineer with GTE Corporation, I decided to shift careers. While working on a master’s in Geology with a focus on Hydrology at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1993), I had the good fortune of being hired by Dr. J. (Jim) Dungan Smith, a project chief with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to work on research associated with the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies (GCES). Our project focused on the creation of physically-based models of flow and sediment transport and application of the models to address problems of sediment erosion and deposition in the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. Jim’s leadership gave me an opportunity to develop my knowledge in the fields of hydrology, sediment transport and geomorphology, and that experience was the start of my career as a research scientist with the USGS.
Following the GCES work, we worked on problems in the western United States associated with: erosion of contaminated sediments from floodplains; contributions of sediment to streams from hillslope erosion; and effects of woody vegetation on streamflow and sediment transport. Much of my later research with Jonathan Friedman (USGS) and Kirk Vincent involved a long-term study of the role of woody vegetation in geomorphic processes involving sediment erosion and deposition within the Rio Puerco arroyo in north-central New Mexico. Through the use of pre- and post-flood field data, geomorphic mapping from multiple sets of aerial and satellite imagery, lidar survey data, and quantitative modeling, we were able to show the relation between woody vegetation density on channel banks and floodplains and our observations of channel bank and floodplain erosion and deposition during floods. Although I retired from the USGS in 2018, I remain particularly interested in geomorphic issues associated with runoff and sediment transport.
Bob Milhous
I grew up in Indiana and after two years in the Marine Corps I attended Purdue University and received a BSCE degree. After two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania I returned to Purdue University and received a MSCE degree. I then worked in the Soils Laboratory of the California Department of Water Resources, followed by work in Ghana on road studies.
My real passion was in Water Resources and I attended Oregon State University and eventually received a PhD. I then worked in Washington State on a number of tasks, one of which was the development of methods to determine instream flow needs. I then moved to Colorado with the Fish and Wildlife Service and continued work on instream flows. The group I worked with was transferred to the US Geological Survey and I retired in 2008. I have continued to work on links between streamflow, sediment transport, and aquatic habitat.
Jason Kean
I am a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landslide Hazards Program in Golden, Colorado. I grew up in Ohio and have lived in Colorado since moving here for graduate school in the mid-nineties. My research focuses on the processes controlling debris-flow initiation and growth, particularly after wildfire, but also in unburned areas. This research includes a field component that obtains direct measurements of debris flows in natural settings, a modeling component that seeks to explain the observations, and an applied component that focuses on assessment of debris-flow hazards. My previous research focused on river mechanics and streambank erosion. When I’m not working, I enjoy riding bikes and trying to keep up with my kids on the ski slopes.
Sara Rathburn
I am from Boulder, CO and spent my youth hiking the trails, splashing in creeks and collecting rocks in the area with my family. This interest led me to a BS in geosciences where I became exposed to geomorphology and have followed that path ever since. Currently, I am a geomorphologist and professor in Geosciences at Colorado State University. I received my MS at the University of Arizona where I studied paleofloods with Dr. Victor Baker. The mentoring from Vic and Dr. Bill Bull was formative in how I teach my classes at CSU. From Tucson, I moved to Laramie, WY where I worked in environmental consulting for three years while my husband Jim completed his doctorate. To both complicate and enrich our lives, Jim and I had two children, and I then began my PhD with Dr. Ellen Wohl, who I met while we were both graduate students at Arizona. With Ellen, I used field techniques and numerical modeling to assess sediment transport within a steep gradient bedrock river for my dissertation and explored other diverse subjects under her careful mentoring. I was hired at CSU in 2001 and have had the great good fortune to continue working with Ellen and advising students in our Geomorphology Lab. Research with my graduate students takes us to rivers across the west to study post-disturbance landscape recovery, channel-vegetation interactions, channel restoration, and the effect of climate change on fluvial systems. I am also committed to mentoring undergraduates in research and early career faculty members. In my free time, l love to backcountry ski, hike, cook, read, garden, and spend time with my family and two dogs.
Dr. William C. Rense
I am retired as Professor of Geography and Earth Science from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and currently live in Estes Park, Colorado. I was raised in Boulder, Colorado, where my father was a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado. I received my Ph.D. in Resource and Physical Geography from Oregon State University in 1974.
I have been a “student” of Front Range weather and climate since my teenage years and have maintained weather records at the family property in Allenspark, Colorado, since 1960. I have been a member of the American Association of Geographers for more than 50 years and I also maintain membership in the American Water Resources Association, the National Council for Geographic Education and the Pennsylvania Geographical Society. I consider Water Budget Climatology to be my primary specialty, but have given numerous professional papers on a variety of geographic subjects. In the past, I have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and trekked several times in the Karakoram and Himalayan mountains of Asia as well as the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. I currently enjoy travel and opera, especially the operas of Richard Wagner.
Derek Schook
I am an interdisciplinary scientist interested in managing river, floodplain, and wetland ecosystems. My education includes a BA in biology at the College of Wooster and an MS in wetland ecology and PhD in fluvial geomorphology at Colorado State University. This academic training equipped me with the tools to apply basic scientific principles to understand complex landscape dynamics within the fields of riparian ecology, fluvial geomorphology, dendrochronology, and stream and wetland restoration. As a hydrologist with the National Park Service, I work with parks nationwide to enhance, restore, and manage functioning freshwater ecosystems for the benefit of ecosystems and people. I enjoy working with many skilled colleagues to improve our decision-making capabilities. I also enjoy not working, where I get to garden, play sports, and explore the great outdoors with my wife and friends.
Charles Shobe
I am a Research Geomorphologist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, CO. Prior to joining the RMRS I was an Assistant Professor of geology at West Virginia University. My research focuses on river and watershed processes and includes, among other topics, post-fire sediment transport, river response to disturbances, and human impacts on watersheds. I completed a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship at the German Research Center for Geosciences, a PhD at the University of Colorado, and a BS at the College of William and Mary.