Project Title: Quantifying Burn Severity Through Laboratory Simulation: The Dirt on Wildfire.

Mentors: Ben Livneh and Carli Brucker, CIRES/Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department at CU

Bio: Alex is originally from Montana and has lived in Colorado for the past ten years. She has spent most of that time living near the base of Rocky Mountain National Park in Grand County, which exposed her to the vast geology of the Rocky Mountains. Alex was employed by the Town of Granby, where she worked as a Water Operator in water treatment and distribution. Both this job and her geographical surroundings prompted her to pursue higher education in the field of geology.

While working full time as a Water Operator, Alex completed her associate's degree through the online program at Front Range Community College. She will be attending the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado in Fall 2019 and pursuing a degree in Geological Engineering, focusing on Ground Water Engineering. She is currently working at CIRES with the Water and Climate Research Group in the Cache la Poudre (CLP) basin, in a post-fire landscape, where she will research increased runoff and sedimentation rates affected by the wildfire - which ultimately affects water quality and water supply systems. Though this research, she hopes to gain a better understanding of the adverse effects of post-fire environments and its effect on water quality and supply systems. She hopes this research will provide a foundation for exploring significant effects on water quality on a global scale.

View a short 90-second elevator speech.