New researchers joining the fRI Water Program

Two new Watershed Scientists are joining the fRI Water Program team – welcome Faye Hirshfield and Ryan MacDonald.

Faye Hirshfield

Faye will be joining the Water Program for a 2-year appointment based at the University of Alberta. She will be building on existing Water Program work in the development of watershed assessment procedures by focussing on the upper Peace region. Over the summer of 2014 Faye will work with Axel Anderson, program lead, to connect with relevant partners on the Alberta and BC sides of the border to understand the business and management challenges in the area, and to assess their knowledge needs.

Faye has already hit the ground running; she has contributed to a special session proposal for the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting (which has been accepted), which will bring together watershed assessment and associated science from BC, Virginia and Germany. The session will showcase the world’s most up-to-date information on the topic, including the recent contributions from the fRI Water Program.

Faye is near the completion of her PhD at the University of Northern British Columbia in hydraulics. Once complete she will join the University of Alberta as a PostDoc. She brings a wealth of field and analytical skills along with a successful history of working with partners on cumulative watershed management issues in the BC Peace country and the rest of northern BC.

 

Ryan MacDonald

Ryan started a PostDoc at the University of Alberta in April 2014. He will start a joint appointment at fRI as a Watershed Scientist June 2. He is currently visiting U Waterloo working with a team of researchers to learn a new hydrological modelling platform designed for forest applications. Ryan will apply the model to the SW Alberta longterm research watershed for a Government of Alberta project designed to inform the sensitivity of forest harvesting on flows.

Ryan holds a PhD from the University of Lethbridge and has a diverse skill set in hydrological and aquatic research / management. He has an impressive publication record on everything from aquatic ecology to water temperature to climate change / hydrological modelling.