Rebecca Diehl
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Geography & Geosciences
College of Arts and Sciences
BIO
Rebecca Diehl is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Geosciences at the University of Vermont. Trained as a fluvial geomorphologist, she is interested in understanding the functioning of river systems to support a more sustainable management of our water resources. Rebecca’s current research focuses on mapping, measuring and modeling the physical settings and processes that support the ecosystem services of rivers and floodplains, including their role in water quality mitigation, flood attenuation, and habitat provisioning. She works across scales, collecting field observations to build empirical datasets, and analyzing large geospatial datasets that inform the development of statistical or process-based tools. Previous research emphasized the importance of biotic factors (i.e., riparian vegetation, non-native species, wood jams) on fluvial processes and channel form.
Rebecca received her PhD in Watershed Sciences at Utah State University and has a master’s in Geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the faculty at UVM in 2018, she was an NSF Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability Fellow at the University of Montana leading an interdisciplinary team in the development of a hydrologically-driven model of riparian ecosystem dynamics in the Colorado River Basin. She remains engaged in questions around water resource management and environmental flow prescriptions in the Colorado River Basin.
Area(s) of expertise
Floodplain dynamics, Ecogeomorphology, Flood inundation mapping, Sediment and nutrient transport, Ecosystem flow quantifications
Bio
Rebecca Diehl is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Geosciences at the University of Vermont. Trained as a fluvial geomorphologist, she is interested in understanding the functioning of river systems to support a more sustainable management of our water resources. Rebecca’s current research focuses on mapping, measuring and modeling the physical settings and processes that support the ecosystem services of rivers and floodplains, including their role in water quality mitigation, flood attenuation, and habitat provisioning. She works across scales, collecting field observations to build empirical datasets, and analyzing large geospatial datasets that inform the development of statistical or process-based tools. Previous research emphasized the importance of biotic factors (i.e., riparian vegetation, non-native species, wood jams) on fluvial processes and channel form.
Rebecca received her PhD in Watershed Sciences at Utah State University and has a master’s in Geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the faculty at UVM in 2018, she was an NSF Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability Fellow at the University of Montana leading an interdisciplinary team in the development of a hydrologically-driven model of riparian ecosystem dynamics in the Colorado River Basin. She remains engaged in questions around water resource management and environmental flow prescriptions in the Colorado River Basin.
Areas of Expertise
Floodplain dynamics, Ecogeomorphology, Flood inundation mapping, Sediment and nutrient transport, Ecosystem flow quantifications