Joseph Becker M.S. Student Water Resources Engineering SUNY-ESF

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Vitae

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Research

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Hello and welcome to my website. First a little about myself, my interests have been aligned with the outdoors for many years. As child, I particularly enjoyed hiking, fishing, camping and canoeing. More recently, my interests in the environment have shifted from recreational outdoor activities to a more academic and scientific approach. In 2008 I begun and completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Beginning in Georgia and ending in Maine, this foot path is America's oldest and most well known long distance trail. Along this hike, I was fortunate to gain a unique perspective on how humans are shaping our surrounding world. This helped spark my interest in how humans can sustainably manipulate nature to make more efficient use of environmental forces. I hope to accomplish this through my reserach at SUNY-ESF and after.

Vitae

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Education

Aug 2010 to Present: SUNY-ESF, Syracuse NY

- Candidate for M.S. in Environmental Resources Engineering with a focus on water resources engineering

- Major professor: Dr. Ted Endreny P.H., P.E.

Aug 2003 to May 2007: Le Moyne College, Syracuse NY

- Major: Physics, B.S.

- Minors: Mathematics, Philosophy

- Graduated with Integral Honors Degree

Employment Experience

Aug 2010 to Present: Graduate Assistant

-Teaching assistant at SUNY-ESF department of Environmental Resources Engineering

- Classes:

- ERE 223 Statics and Dynamics

- ERE 362 Mechanics of Materials

- ERE 465/665 Environmental Systems

Engineering

- ERE 445/645 Hydologic Modeling

May 2011 to November 2011: Research Associate

- Helped develop research methods and goals

- Assisted in gather and processing data

- Title: Reach-Scale Patterns in Hyporheic Exchange at Pristine, Degraded and Restored Rivers

- Funding organization: Water Resources Institute

November 2008 to July 2010: Foil stamping machine mperator/folding machine operator

- Integrated Book Technology, Troy NY

- Operate and maintain hand-fed foil stamping machine and machine folder

Volunteer/Activities

Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, 2008

SUNY-ESF Engineers without Borders, Tresurer

Professional organizations

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

American Water Resources Association (AWRA)

Skills

- Programming languages

- R, MATLAB, Visual Basic, VBA,

MATHCAD

- Software

- HEC-RAS

- EPANET 2.0

- UCODE

- OTIS (One-dimensional transport with

inflow and storage, USGS)

- MODFLOW

- ESRI ArcGIS Package

- Inkscape

- Microsoft Suite

Classes

Fall 2010:

ERE 571 Fluid Mechanics

ERE 596 Numerical and Computing Methods

ERE 612 River Form and Process

ERE 797 Research Methods in Environmental Resources Engineering

ERE 899 Master's Thesis Research

FOR 521 Forest Ecology and Silviculture

Teaching Assistant to ERE 223 Statics and Dynamics

Spring 2011:

ERE 540 Engineering Hydrology & Hydraulics

ERE 548 Open Channel Hydraulics

ERE 643 Water Polluntion Engineering

ERE 645 Hydrologic Modeling

ERE 899 Master's Thesis Research

Teaching Assistant to ERE 362 Mechanics of Materials

Fall 2011:

EFB 610 Ecological Biogeochemistry

ERE 899 Master's Thesis Research

Teaching Assistant to ERE 465/665 Environmental Systems Engineering

Research

Observing characteristic differences between three stream types: Pristine, Degraded, and Restored

River restoration is a multi-billion dollar industry that has touched thousands of communities throughout the United States (USGS, 2009). One type of river restoration project, natural channel design, attempts to achieve multiple goals including bank stability, transforming degraded river segments into reaches that increase or return original bedform structure, and improve biogeochemical functions, such as nutrient cycling. One possible metric in evaluating the performance of river restoration projects is their ability to mimic ideal river storage patterns. Storage areas in rivers can be host to a variety of biogeochemical reactions. To do this, slug injections coupled with a transient storage model (TSM) will be broken into two zones: the hyporheic transient storage zone (HTS) and the surface transient storage zone (STS). Restoration sites will include a variety of restoration projects in throughout upstate New York. Each restoration project will be compared with a nearby ideal river (pristine) and a nearby candidate for restoration (degraded). Physical characteristics of the streams and watershed as well as optimized TSM model results will be used to make comparisons between the three types of reaches. The primary goal of the research is to observe the characteristic differences between three populations of reaches and draw conclusions about storage patterns based on population. The secondary goal of this research is to determine the significance of restoration structures on different storage parameters.

Keywords: river restoration, hyporheic exchange, OTIS

USGS, 2009. National River Restoration Science Synthesis. In: N.B.I. Infrastructure (Editor). http://nrrss.nbii.gov/, Arlington, VA.)

Other areas of interest

How does the number and density of paleochannels in a floodplain impact gross losses/gains?

Tracking the movement of solutes through the hyporheic zone using ground penetrating radar (GPR)

Photo above is a dye injection at a restoration site near Marcellus, NY. Photo below is a restoration site near Corland, NY

becker_researchmethods_111111.pptx

Links

Professional organizations and other useful links

Academic

Service

My major professor:

Dr. Ted Endreny P.E., P.H.

My department:

Environmental Resources Engineering

My institution:

SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

American Water Resources Association (AWRA)

New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA)

United States Geological Survey (USGS)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC)

For the past year and a half I have been working with our SUNY-ESF chapter of Engineer's without Borders on a gravity fed community water distribution system. The project is in it's implementation phase with a goal of finishing before the end of the year. For more information about Engineer's without Borders check out these websites.

Engineer's without Borders

SUNY-ESF-EWB

I have also been a literacy volunteer helping high school dropouts learn valuable math skills in preparation for taking their GED.

Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County

While working in Troy, NY I was able to dedicate my weekends to a local community garden program. Check out their great work!

Captial District Community Gardens

Contact

Joseph Becker

email: jfbeck01_syr.edu

321 Baker Laboratory

One Forestry Dr.

Syracuse NY, 13210-2712

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