I was hired as part of a cluster hire focused on urban ecosystems at Kent State University, and while my research has a significant urban component to it, I had not taught an urban-focused class… until this past semester, when I created a new class in Urban Hydrology. Urban hydrology …
Combined sewers are pipes that catch both sewage and stormwater and route it to a waste water treatment plant. In dry weather, it’s all sewage in the pipes. In small rain storms, the pipes carry sewage mixed with stormwater and it all goes to the wastewater treatment plant to get …
Next week my Urban Hydrology class embarks on their first project: exploring the potential water quality changes in the Cuyahoga River as it flows through the City of Kent, which is really the first good-sized town on its path to Lake Erie. Here’s a summary of what we’ll be doing, …
This week’s mini-assignment for my urban hydrology class reads thus: “In 1-2 paragraphs, describe your hometown (or some other city you know well) in terms of its location, size, and form and why it is that way (i.e., historical context). Then write a paragraph describing your city’s relation to water. …
In Urban Hydrology this semester, I’m asking my students to complete mini-assignments related to each week’s reading. I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about East African Rift Lakes, particularly Lake Malawi. I wanted to give my students an example of a excellent and not so great responses to …
Image credits: SOPAC, where the image is attributed to SEQ Healthy Waterways Partnership (http://www.healthywaterways.org) and US Green Building Council, where it is attributed to NC DENR.
Cross-posted at Highly Allochthonous Over the summer, people asked me whether I was taking the summer off, and I had to explain to them that it wasn’t so much that I had a new job, as that I was simply moving my old job to a new place.* And that’s …
Along with colleagues at Kent State University, I have been awarded a DUE TUES grant from the National Science Foundation. Our project “Bridging the Conceptual Divide Between Theoretical and Applied Environmental Chemistry” focuses on developing curriculum centered on hands-on experiences with stable isotope analysis. We’ll also be developing ways to …
I’m excited to announce that Cynthia Barnett will be speaking on campus next week. She’s an outstanding thinker and writer about water conservation, particularly as it pertains to the eastern United States, where our sense of water-richness has lulled us into complacency. From the press release: Award-winning journalist and author …
Cross-posted at Highly Allochthonous I’ve got a shiny new Emriver Em2 river processes simulator (i.e., stream table), thanks to departmental equipment funds and enthusiastic colleagues. I’ve been on sabbatical this semester and away from campus, so I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, but it is enticing …