"Got Science?" is an on-going series highlighting scientists that are engaging in key monitoring and research contributing to Puget Sound recovery. 

So what makes you tick? What motivated you to do your current work?

I like the environment and landscape we live in and I want to keep it that way. I want to do my part and be a good steward of where we live. My current work is motivated by my love of solving puzzles- how to best address climate change in a cost-effective and meaningful way. This intrigues me. I do watershed planning because water is cool- it’s calming and tranquil and the world is alright. More on that later. Puzzle love + water = my life.  

If you had to use a common metaphor for describing the kind of monitoring or research work you do, what would it be? (building a house foundation, doing investigative reporting?).

Building block of life (or forensic hydrology for nerds).  Everything I do is basic elements of the environment given the vast complexity and unknowns we face. 

If you had a 14 year old on the street ask you what does your research mean to them, how would you respond?

Do you care about swimming, drinking, eating, and living life? My work fixes our past sins and plans for your future. 

What is the most amazing, wondrous thing you have found out from your research? (meaning a cool thing the organism does, how it does its work etc., )

I love how nature finds a way to try to acclimate, to fit in to changing conditions. Salmon lay eggs farther upstream because they can find a local environment that supports their babies through their ability to smell. They are born in the ocean, can smell, go upstream, survive predators and make it thousands of miles back to where they were born.  

If you had 30 seconds with someone you need to influence to support your work, what would you say about what they will get out of your research in their work and lives. What’s the benefit to them?

My work makes your decisions more credible and tangible. 

Finally, what is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?

Golfing, followed by gardening, cooking and setting up a rad home theatre room.