What type of research do you do? What fascinates you about it?

I’m an ecohydrologist, which means I study how water moves through the environment and how it interacts with plants, ecosystems and people. My recent work focuses on cities, where water systems are especially complex. I examine how water flows through urban environments, how it’s managed and engineered and how people and policies shape its use.

That mix of science, society and impact, especially its ties to public health and urban sustainability, keeps me challenged, inspired and excited about my work.

What’s something you’re really proud of?

I recently received my first federal grant from the National Science Foundation. The four-year award will support my research on how irrigation of lawns and parks affects water movement and helps mitigate extreme heat, a leading weather-related public health risk in the United States.

You can read more about the grant on the UIS Newsroom.

Do you have a travel bucket list? What’s at the top?

I have a very long travel bucket list with destinations all over the world. Last summer I went to Germany and Alaska. My next destination is Japan. I’d love to visit some of the bigger cities as well as the northernmost island, Hokkaido.

Several years ago, I read For the Love of Rivers by Kurt Fausch, a stream ecologist at Colorado State University. In the book, he describes his research on Hokkaido, and the island has been at the top of my list ever since.

What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

I love food, and I'm not sure I could pick just one! As a Texan by birth, I feel obligated to answer with TexMex or Texas BBQ. I also love Indian and Thai cuisine. So, I suppose the common thread there is that I love anything spicy! 

Where have you lived or traveled?

I’ve been fortunate to live in many places and travel extensively. I grew up in Austin, Texas, and have lived in several other parts of the state. I lived briefly in Mexico and East Africa before beginning my undergraduate degree back in Texas. I later spent more than seven years in Colorado and two years in the Pacific Northwest, near Portland, Oregon, before moving to Illinois almost three years ago.

As for traveling, I’ve also had the chance to visit much of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, central and eastern Europe, Dubai and East Africa.