Current Students and Projects
Carli Piretra, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: International comparison of urban trash management policies and their relation to instream trash and microplastic: USA and Spain
Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award, $1800 School of Science Travel Award
Valentina Cerda, Undergraduate, Marist College Spring 2021 – current
Advisor for project: Cyanotoxins in the Hudson River: Experimental investigation of warming and water chestnut’s combined influences on cyanobacterial community assemblage and resulting toxicity
Advisor for funding sources: $6,500 Hudson River Foundation, $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award
Avalon Johnson, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Rapid habitat assessment of vernal pools for amphibian conservation
Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award, $200 School of Science Travel Award
Madison Michetti, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Impacts of wildlife on enterococci bacteria in the Fall Kill watershed
Advisor for tiered mentoring with local high school students (MH-YES): Spatial patterning of watershed factors affecting stream health in the Hudson River Valley
Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award, $300 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Catherine Cremin, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Experimental investigation of Japanese knotweed’s (Polygonum cuspidatum) impact on the water holding capacity of diverse soil types
Melina Serrao, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Spatial patterning and chemistry of microplastic accumulation in sediments of Long Island, New York (partnered w/ NOAA)
Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award
Madison Langweil, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Environmental justice and sustainability in public health
Amanda Lee, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Climate change education approaches using hyper-local resources
Kenzie Weiss (front), Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Bioaccumulation of microplastics in Hudson River food webs
Maura McGuire (back), Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Mixed-methods approach to assessing student usage of outdoor spaces at the Marist College campus
Dinna Mohamed, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Environmental justice and sustainability in public health
Natalie Kelcher, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: Ecology of vernal pools under a changing climate (partnered w/ Scenic Hudson)
Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award, $600 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Veronica Stureborg, Undergraduate, Marist College
Advisor for project: AI-Driven Predictive Modeling of Flood Response to Intensified Precipitation in a Rural-to-Urban Watershed in the Northeastern U.S.
Advisor for funding sources: $600 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Past Students and Projects
Tadd Bindas, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Hydroinformatics at Pennsylvania State University
- Advisor for Honors Thesis project: Road salts and faults: Preferential transport of high salinity groundwater via geologic faults that connect highways to streams
- Advisor for funding sources: $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Jessica Howe, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently pursuing an M.S. in Sustainable Energy at SUNY ESF
- Co-advisor for project: Barges on the Hudson River: Resiliency of coastlines to oil spills
- Advisor for funding sources: $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Emma Butzler, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Hydrology and Geospatial Analytics at NC State University
- Advisor for project: Spatial Patterns of Nutrient Loading in the Fall Kill: Evaluating the Influence of Septic Systems on a Hudson River Tributary.
- Advisor for tiered mentoring with local high school students (MH-YES): Spatial patterning of watershed factors affecting stream health in the Hudson River Valley
- Advisor for funding sources: $6,500 Hudson River Foundation, $755 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Samantha Musso, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology at Michigan State University
- Advisor for project: Cyanotoxins in the Hudson River: Experimental investigation of warming and water chestnut’s combined influences on cyanobacterial community assemblage and resulting toxicity
- Advisor for funding sources: $6,500 Hudson River Foundation (canceled – COVID-19), $3000 Sheryl Todd Family Foundation
Luke Hatch, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently seeking a Ph.D./PE in Civil Engineer and Stream Restoration
- Advisor for project: Rapid trash assessment and spatial sourcing in Poughkeepsie’s Fall Kill creek
- Advisor for project: Influence of Beaver Dam Analogs on Riparian Vegetation and Sediment Deposition in a Low Order Stream in Northern Utah
- Advisor for project: Influences of spatial heterogeneity in hyporheic exchange and nutrient dynamics on fluvial ecosystems in semi-arid, irrigated versus hemiboreal, non-irrigated systems, Utah and New York.
- Advisor for funding sources: $819 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Matt Badia, Undergraduate, Marist College
Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry at George Mason University
- Advisor for project: Influence of rain-on-snow flooding on road salt pollution in the Fall Kill watershed
Brooke Peterson, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Groundwater inflow as a control on Blanding’s Turtle populations in mitigated wetlands
- Advisor for funding sources: $3400 School of Science Summer Research Award, $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award, $400 Marist VPAA Student Travel Award
Ellie Petraccione, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Co-advisor for Honors Thesis project: Assessing the potential for harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Hudson River: Spatial abundance of cyanobacteria and their abiotic controls
- Co-advisor for communication project: Communicating the risking risk of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Hudson River: Interactive digital visuals for use with the general public
- Advisor for funding sources: $6,500 Hudson River Foundation, $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award, $646 Marist VPAA Student Travel Award
Colleen Bradley, Undergraduate, Marist Colleg
- Advisor for project: Storage dependence index: A sub-annual climatic metric to predict the depth of soil
- Advisor for research project and tiered mentoring with local high school students (MH-YES): Hydrologic and anthropogenic controls on spatial nutrient dynamics in the Fall Kill and Sprout Creek, New York
- Advisor for funding sources: $3400 School of Science Summer Research Award, $1000 School of Science Summer Research Award, $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award, $690 Marist VPAA Student Travel Award
Gabi DeGennaro, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Spatial patterning of microplastic accumulation in sediments of a drinking water reservoir, Chadwick Lake, New York
- Co-advisor for project: Influence of geomorphology and hydrology on Japanese knotweed in Fern Tor Preserve, New York
Julianna Alder-Colvin, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Co-advisor for project: Influence of spatial heterogeneity in groundwater exchange rates on lake ecosystem function, University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center, Wisconsin
- Advisor for project: Quantifying the influence of Japanese knotweed on infiltration rates of forest soils
- Advisor for funding sources: $7000 NSF-REU Co-Advisor, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Katey Samarro, Undergraduate, Marist College
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- Advisor for research project and tiered mentoring with local high school students (MH-YES): Spatial scaling of watershed factors affecting stream health in the Hudson River Valley
- Advisor for funding sources: $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award
Katie Butterfield, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Mapping nutrient inputs to Sprout Creek from agricultural practices
Olivia Fabrizi and Brennan Duarte, Undergraduates, Marist College
- Advisor for team project: Mother Nature’s Hit Single: Evaluation of music-based science communication.
- Advisor for funding sources: $9,999 Strategic Planning Projects Advisory Committee Grant (canceled – COVID-19),
Olivia Fabrizi, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Spatial data compilation, digitization, and visualization for the Fall Kill watershed.
- Advisor for funding sources:$1500 Sheryl Todd Family Foundation, $4200 School of Science Summer Research Award, $3700 Tarver Family Summer Award (canceled – COVID-19)
Carter Schuh, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Spatial patterns of microplastic accumulation in tributary-estuaries of the Hudson River
- Advisor for funding sources: $3400 School of Science Summer Research Award, $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
James Robitaille, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Assessing spatial variation in hyporheic exchange in the Saw Kill creek bed.
- Advisor for project: Analysis and visualization of HRECOS datasets to understand event-scale turbidity dynamics in the Hudson River Estuary.
Clairice Drexler, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for Honors Thesis project: Relation of groundwater inflow and organic sediment accumulation in Blanding’s turtle habitat present in artificial and natural wetlands, Arlington, New York
- Advisor for funding sources: $400 Marist VPAA Student Research Award
Jeramie Glynn, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Co-advisor for project: Spatial analysis to identify processes controlling geomorphic slumping
Brittney Portes, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Localizing terroir for the future using global datasets, and the effects of viticulture expansion in the Hudson Valley on the resilience of soil health under a changing climate
Emily Poole, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Best practices for water resources communication through video and social media
Alexandra Barnes-Schwartz, Undergraduate, Marist College
- Advisor for project: Water quality influences of beaver dams in the Hudson Valley
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Pre-Marist
Will Durrett,
Undergraduate, Colorado College, Summer 2013 – Spring 2014
- Co-advisor for his senior thesis project focused on subsurface ecohydrologic regimes within mountain systems
Dane Vannosdeln,
Masters of Arts in Teaching Student, Colorado College, Summer 2014 – Spring 2015
- Research mentor for his master’s thesis focused on the character impacts of outdoor-based instruction within diverse (socioeconomic status, race, and cognition) student populations
Leona Waller and Ellen Becket,
Undergraduates, Colorado College, Summer 2013
- Advised their independent summer research fellowship to quantify participant presences for water resource management at the annual “Burning Man” festival within the Black Rock Playa, Nevada
Edward Crawford,
Undergraduate, Colorado College, Summer 2013
- Advised and directed a summer research fellowship designed to expose him to field methods in hydrology
Daniel Boyes,
Undergraduate, Colorado College, Summer 2011
- Advised a component of his senior project looking at human impacts to stream quality
Jackie Hancock,
MSc Student, University of Idaho, 2010 – 2011
- Provided advising in the planning and implementation of her Master’s project focused on the relations of surface/ground-water exchange and salmonid habitat