An MS degree recognizes proficiency in advanced scientific knowledge and technical skills. Starting employees with an MS degree tend to earn ~$15,000 more per year in gross salary than those with only a BS degree. To earn an MS degree a student in my lab group usually does 32 units of coursework in either the Hydrologic Sciences or Ecology Graduate Groups at UC Davis plus an MS thesis. The purpose of the MS thesis is to gain experience as a project leader in which the candidate learns and applies management skills, technical skills, and scientific knowledge to all phases of the scientific method. Typically an MS research project involves taking an existing scientiic hypothesis and then performing the research to explore it, usually with a blend of outdoor field work, computer modeling, traditional statistical data analysis, and GIS-based geospatial data analysis. I hold my MS students to a high standard of research and writing quality, which is why they are highly sought after by employers. The majority of my former MS students are now professional consultants, but two went on to become professors.
Current MS Students
Maya Akkaraju
TBD
Arthur Koehl
Geomorphology of "Valleys"
Extraction of valley floors from 10-m DEMs
Past MS Students
Maurice Ledoyen
Cover habitat prediction and use by rearing Pacific salmonids
Graduated December 2024
Hydrologust with Nevada irrigation District
Rachel Wright
Bioverification of Cottonwood recruitment potential prediction model for regulated, dry-summer subtropical rivers.
Graduated March 2024
Environmental Scientist at the State Water Resources Control Board
Xavier Nogueira
LiDAR terrain processing/analysis coding
Geomorphic covariance structure analysis of ephemeral rivers
Graduated December 2021
Working in the private sector in relation to remote sensing & geospatial applications.
Arielle Gervasi
Fluvial topographic change detection and analysis.
Topographic change processes
Graduated June 2021
Consultant
Sean Luis
Adult anadromous salmonid migration past river confluences.
Graduated with MS August 2020
Graduated with PhD in June 2022 from UC Davis
Fish Passage Biologist at Tacoma Power
Kenny Larrieu
River Architect algorithm to predict fish stranding risk due to natural or artificial flow recession.
Fish stransing risk prediciton at a river restoraiton site in Calfiornia
Fluvial geomorphic covariance structures of desert meandering rivers.
Graduated August 2020
PhD student at UC Davis in Civil Engineering
Yuiko Chino
Forested mountain ecohydrology and Ecohydraulics
Graduated December 2019
PhD student at Colorado State University
Pete Moniz
Development of evidence-based habitat suitability curves for rearing lifestages of Chinook salmon and O. mykiss (anadromous and resident).
Bioverification of near-census ecohydraulic models of rearing lifestages of Chinook salmon and O. mykiss (anadromous and resident).
Analysis of fluvial micro- and meso-habitat changes for rearing lifestages of Chinook salmon and O. mykiss (anadromous and resident) in response to fluvial morphodynamic changes.
Graduated August 2019
Consultant With Cramer Fish Sciences
Luke Tillman
"Does Large Wood Make It Through a Montane Reservoir?"
Consultant with CBEC, Inc.
Matt Weber
"Valley-scale morphology drives differences in fluvial sediment budgets and incision rates during contrasting flow regimes"
Consultant with CBEC, Inc.
Michael Strom
"A Mechanistic Characterization of Hydraulic Hazard Exposure"
Graduated in Spring 2015.
Consultant at ESA Associates.
David Ho
Salmonid rearing habitat at a site on the regulated, gravel/cobble lower Yuba River.
Graduated in Summer 2014.
Employed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Bobby Gonzalez
"Re-Envisioning Cross-Sectional Hydraulic Geometry as Spatially Explicit Hydraulic Topography"
Graduated in Summer 2014.
Leah Kammel
"Oncorhynchus mykiss Spawning Physical Habitat in the Lower Yuba River, California"
Graduated in March 2014.
Employed by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Matthew Vaughan
"Large Streamwood Storage Does Not Decrease Downstream through a Watershed"
Graduated in December 2013.
Lake Champlain Basin Program
Tarick Abu-Aly
"Quantifying the effects of spatially-distributed roughness parameters derived from Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) on a 2D hydrodynamic model of the Lower Yuba River, CA"
Graduated in 2012.
Technical Director, Vice-President of Sierra Overhead Analytics.
"Large Wood Aids Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) Spawning in Marginal Habitat on a Regulated River in California"
Graduated in Spring 2007.
Went on to do a PhD
Consultant at Balance Hydrologic
Jason White
"Valley Width Controls on Riffle Location and Persistence on a Gravel Bed River"
Graduated in 2009.
Consultant at ESA Associates.
Aaron Fulton
"Gravel for Salmon in Bedrock Channels: Elucidating Mitigation Efficacy Through Site Characterization, 2D-Modeling, and Comparison Along the Yuba River, CA"
Graduated in 2008
Marin Municipal Water District.
Rocko Brown
"Evaluation and Design Considerations for Spawning Habitat Rehabilitation"
Graduated in 2007.
Consultant at Cramer Fish Sciences.
Eve Elkins
"The Use of Slope Creation in Gravel Augmentation for Rehabilitating Incised, Regulated Rivers"
Graduated in 2005.
Research technician at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Joe Wheaton
"Spawning Habitat Rehabilitation"
Graduated in 2003.
Professor at Utah State University.
Jose Constantine
"Floodplain Evolution In A Small, Tectonically Active Basin Of Northern California"
Graduated in 2002.
Professor at Williams College.
Chien Wang
"Application of a 2D Hydrodynamic Model to Salmonid Spawning Gravel Replenishment in a Regulated River, Mokelumne River, California"
Graduated in 2002.
Engineer East Bay Municipal Utility District.
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223 Veihmeyer Hall
LAWR Dept., UC Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
