Meet the River Center

Principal Investigators

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Emily Bernhardt
Enjoys tracking elements through ecosystems, the more degraded the better
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Martin Doyle
Likes reading (and writing) the history of riverscapes
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Jim Heffernan
Obsessed with ecosystem change at all temporal scales

Technical Staff

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Brooke Hassett
River Center Lab Manager


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Michael Vlah
Data Scientist
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Steve Anderson
Bernhardt lab Manager lover of wetlands, streams and plant diversity



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Spencer Rhea
Research Associate
​focusing on data science 

Post-Docs

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Amanda DelVecchia
hydrology & biogeochemistry of freshwaters & sediments affect greenhouse gas dynamics
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Elliott White
Sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion 
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Austin Gray
Emerging contaminants 

PhD Students

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​Jackie Gerson
Movement of trace metals through watersheds and their impact on people 
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Erika Smull
Water utilities and municipal finance
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Emily Ury 
Nutrient cycling and impacts of land uses on ecological communities and biogeochemical processes. ​
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Alice Carter
Fascinated by the metabolism of rivers
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Nick Bruns

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Jonny Behrens
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Jasmine Parham
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​Audrey Thellman

Undergraduate Researchers

This could be you... send an email to one or more PIs if you are interested in conducting undergraduate research with one or more of us...
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Melissa Marchese
Duke senior and a first year MS student in Duke's Global Health Masters program and is earning a certificate in Latin American & Caribbean Studies.
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Wyatt Jernigan
Duke rising senior majoring in Biology with an Ecology concentration, and minoring in Earth and Ocean Sciences. 
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Tyler Edwards
Majoring in biology with a certificate from Science and Society;  Alice M. Baldwin Scholar and Huang Fellow, 
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Abena Antobre
Duke Senior co-majoring in Biology and Global Health, and a David M. Rubenstein scholar.