We document human interactions with watershed processes, including water balances, sediment budgets, channel morphology, water quality and feedbacks on land use in urban and agricultural landscapes. Current study sites include the US-Mexico Border region, San Diego, American Samoa, and the Amazon basin.
We aim to integrate three techniques in our research:
- Remote sensing of land cover change, evapotranspiration, and terrain
- Modelling, including statistical and dynamic computational models of runoff, sediment, channel form and water quality
- Fieldwork for characterization of channel geometry, streamflow, and water quality including use of stable isotopes of water for tracing sources and pathways of water in the landscape. More recently my students have used interviews with farmers in Mexico to understand the role of water as a driver of land cover change.
Our research involves extensive collaboration with other faculty at SDSU and with regional stakeholders. Find out more about Blue Gold: Mitigating Water Scarcity and the Watershed Science Institute.
NEWS!
2024-08: New paper out on Tijuana Estuary water quality. Congrats to the lead author (Dr. Mladenov) and team!
2024-06: Blog from YSI, who measured discharge at the outlet of the Tijuana River (for the first time!) with SDSU.
2024-02: Congratulations to Margot Mattson, who was awarded a prestigious year-long fellowship from Sea Grant for 2024. See the news release here. Nice job!
2023-12: Para bens para Nara Luisa Andrade, previous visiting scholar from Brazil (summer 2023), and Elvino Ferreria, collaborator on the NSF Amazon project, on receiving a Researcher Award from FAPERO! News report here and photo below (Nara is top row, second from the left)
2023-11: See a new NOAA blog by Ibisia Jack and TJ Palmer on Dr. McMillans’ NOAA Trash project here.
2023-10: Congratulations to Ibisia Jack, recipient of a highly competitive scholarship from the Association for Environmental Professionals. Way to go, Ibisia!
2023-04: MS student Stephany Garcia in the news on CBS!
2023-03: Congratulations to Emily Deardorff, who just started her new job as a Water Data Scientist at Lynker and !