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
Twitter: @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
Tek Kshetri
Tek is a geomatics engineer whose MSc work focuses on mapping sand mining areas in Nepalese rivers.
Twitter: @iamtekson
Youtube: @iamtekson
Parke Fontaine
Parke Fontaine is doing a BSc research project on sediment transfers following wildfire in the Okanagan of British Columbia
Holly Basiuk
Holly graduated from the Calgary ENSC BSc program where she conducted research in the waterSHEDlab on a variety of topics. For her MSc work, she is focusing on geomorphic and sedimentological changes in glacier-fed lakes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Twitter: Holly_for_life
Michael Thiel
Mike joined the group in fall 2023 as an MSc student interested in Quaternary geology and natural hazards. His thesis topic is post-wildfire debris flows.
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.
Twitter: @Lew_Bailey
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
Twitter: @AramFathian
Alumni
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.
For more information about applying, see the University of Calgary Department of Geoscience Graduate Overview.