Author Archives: Laura Toran

The National Academy of Sciences committee went kayaking to get a closer look at stream restoration efforts near the protected springs along the Edwards Aquifer.  Two days later the streams were flooded, closing parks, and taking out bridges.  Glad we … Continue reading →

September has been another dry month, which is slowing down research on infiltration in urban soils and calibration of the stream turbidity loggers.  There was one decent storm, but we need more rain!

Ashley Newman won honorable mention at the undergraduate research symposium for her research on the influence of infiltration on groundwater levels at the SERC basin (new science building).  Congratulations Ashley!

Seven of my students submitted abstracts to the fall GSA meeting!  October is going to be busy preparing posters and talks!  The list:  Graduate students Emily Arnold and Paul Zarella, along with former graduate student Trevor Klein; Undergraduates Chris Witzigman, … Continue reading →

The algae bloom at Alverthorpe Pond in Abington made an interesting study for nutrients.  We placed loggers upstream and downstream of the pond for a month.  There was a drop in oxygen and nitrate downstream of the pond.  The results … Continue reading →

This aerial image is the military base near Ft Indiantown Gap.  It is a firing and bombing range for training.  They need help re-installing their stream monitoring program and I visited with Temple undergrad, Jess Welkey.  We dug around in … Continue reading →

At the end of June, I went to central PA with Ellen Herman (Bucknell) and her student, Josh Barna, to see how they have instrumented the first set of springs for our NSF karst project.  We downloaded data and took … Continue reading →

Graduate student Paul Zarella and undergraduate Kelly Devlin and Ashley Newman are helping with monitoring at the bioretention basin outside the new science building on campus.  Ashley is downloading data from the wells while Paul and Kelly install soil moisture … Continue reading →

  Along with my graduate student Emily Arnold and undergrad assistant Chris Witzigman, I’ve been busy installing water quality loggers on the Tookany.  We are assessing baseline water quality and trying to develop some techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of … Continue reading →

Two of my graduate students, Haley Rodack and Trevor Klein successfully defended their masters theses and graduated this May. Haley’s thesis was on fracture flow modeling and Trevor looked at nitrate retention in Pennypack Creek.  Here Haley is helping Trevor … Continue reading →