Meet our team
Faculty
Dr. Dan Shugar
Dan Shugar is the Director of the waterSHED Lab. Dan completed his PhD at Simon Fraser University, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Victoria. He worked at the University of Washington Tacoma prior to moving to the University of Calgary. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment and Director of the Environmental Science Program.
PhD (2011, SFU, Earth Science); MSc (2005, Guelph, Geography); BSc (2003, Carleton, Geography)
Bluesky: @waterSHEDlab
Current members
Ava Keerak
Ava is a BSc student majoring in geophysics and data science, working on mapping glacial lakes in the British Columbia Coast Mountains and landslides in interior of BC.
Annika Richardson
Annika is working on her MSc, focused on application of geophysical methods (seismometers and DAS) to learn more about natural hazard processes.
Emily Ballon
Emily is an MSc student studying landslides and sediment delivery along Canadian Pacific railway tracks in western Canada.
Dr Lewis Bailey
Dr Lew Bailey completed a URKI-Mitacs Doctoral Exchange last year, working on ocean surface turbidity, and is now a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr Shugar and Dr Steve Hubbard on a variety of turbidity current projects.
Dr Aram Fathian
Dr Aram Fathian was a visiting student from RWTH Aachen previously, and is now a postdoctoral scholar working on alpine geohazards using InSAR, optical satellite imagery, and ICESat-2 altimetry
Alumni
Michael Thiel (MSc, UCalgary, 2026)
Holly Basiuk (MSc, UCalgary, 2025)
Parke Fontaine (BSc, UCalgary, 2025)
Tek Kshetri (MSc, UCalgary, 2025)
Annika Richardson (BSc, UCalgary, 2024)
Dr Celeste Labedz (postdoc, UCalgary, 2024)
Luc van Dijk (visiting MSc student, UUtrecht, 2023)
Jackson Bodtker (MSc, UCalgary, 2023)
Dr Mike Tilston (postdoc, UCalgary, 2023)
Holly Basiuk (BSc, UCalgary, 2022)
Aram Fathian (visiting PhD student, RWTH Aachen, 2022)
Lewis Bailey (visiting PhD student, U Southampton, 2022)
Ethan Lee (visiting PhD student, U Newcastle, 2022)
Meghan Sharp (MSc, UCalgary, 2021)
Gryphen Goss (MSc, UCalgary, 2021)
Kijak, Szymon (BSc, UCalgary, 2021)
Bonno, Doug (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2018)
Haas, John (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2018)
Kennedy, Katie (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2018)
Lane, Tim (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2018)
Bell, Joey (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2017)
Burr, Aaron (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2017)
Henderson, Yon (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2017)
Rawley, Heather (BSc, UW Tacoma, 2017)
Opportunities
If you are interested in working with the waterSHED Lab on topics including alpine geomorphology or geohazards as a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow, familiarize yourself with our research and get in touch with Dr Dan Shugar by email. Include your CV and unofficial transcripts and a brief explanation of your research interests. I am open to inquires from students from a variety of backgrounds, including geoscience, physical geography, geophysics, etc, but can only consider students whose research interests align with my own. Get in touch as early as possible: For Canadian applicants and permanent residents, note that NSERC funding applications for graduate scholarships have to be submitted in the autumn of the year before you plan to start your studies.
I have written a guide for prospective graduate students. I encourage you to read it.
For more information about applying, see the University of Calgary Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment Graduate Overview.