Author Archives: Laura Toran

Postdoc Sarah Beganskas is working with our colleagues in engineering, Rob Ryan and Eve Walters, to develop a calibrated model of WASP for the Wissahickon Creek. This model will help us understand how in stream processes are altered (improved?) by … Continue reading →

PhD student Jim Berglund’s second paper just got accepted in Journal of Hydrology.  Subtitled “Who_Needs_Anomalies“, this paper describes karst flow path mixing using REEs and Ca/Zr ratios. Citation: Berglund, J.L. Toran, L., and Herman, E.K.  In press. Deducing Flow Path Mixing … Continue reading →

Jim Berglund won the Rick Valentino Outstanding TA award at the holiday party in December.  This award is given to a TA that embodies Rick Valentino’s devotion to teaching. Jim’s puns and carefully crafted lectures are a winner with his … Continue reading →

What happens when you go to AGU with 2 postdocs (one former) and 4 grad students?  You have to hunt for their posters in the massive session hall (and don’t get too distracted by the posters to go to the … Continue reading →

We keep adding new sensors to our vacant lot research site at Temple Ambler. Here we are installing new TEROS 12 soil moisture sensors that also record conductivity.  These are lined up with the permanent resistivity system that Gina Pope … Continue reading →

I won the College of Science and Technology research award for 2018!  At the award dinner, there were 5 teaching awards for faculty and 1 research award.  My colleague Dr. Sujith Ravi won the mentoring award, giving our department two … Continue reading →

Three students presented abstracts at the annual GSA meeting in Indianapolis this month: Berglund, James, Toran, Laura, and Herman, Ellen.  Ca/Zr ratios and REE patterns as tracers for karst flow paths.  Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Indianapolis, IN November … Continue reading →

I was part of a panel to talk to the community about a coalition to develop a water quality improvement plan for the Wissahickon Creek.  The creek is challenged due to its urban setting and it will take a community … Continue reading →

Dr. Sarah Beganskas joined our group in mid-September.  She joined Temple University after getting at Ph.D. with Dr Andy Fisher at UC-Santa Cruz.  We waited about 2 seconds to get her out in the field to help with stream characterization … Continue reading →

Masters student Liz Cushman conducted a LiDAR survey of her field site at Roychester park with the help of Dr Jon Nyquist.  She recently completed flow routing analysis (right figure above) so she can map where stormwater flows down from … Continue reading →