Staff Scientist
Ecosystem Ecology Group
Contact
Email
tel. 610-268-2153, ext. 1239
970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311
Interests and Expertise
Rachel is a member of and trainer for EnviroDIY™, a community for do-it-yourself environmental science and monitoring. She has extensive field work experience building, deploying, maintaining and repairing EnviroDIY Monitoring Stations primarily in the Delaware River Basin and surrounding areas.
Rachel uses strong data communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills to convey open source technologies and low-cost environmental monitoring systems to a wide range of audiences, including formal and nonformal educators, scientific experts, landowners, and community scientists through specialized trainings and workshops.
Education
- Graduate degree (in progress), University of Delaware.
- B.S., environmental, geographical, and geological sciences (environmental geoscience), Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
Professional Experience
- Staff scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2023–present.
- Research engineer technician, Stroud Water Research Center, 2017–present.
Publications
- Johnson, R.M., A.L. Pitt, S.M. Hartzell, J.J. Tavano, J.L. Shinskie, C.R. Pavlick and E.N. Wahlman. 2016. First report of the Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 51(4):65.
Presentations and Workshops
- EnviroDIY in the Delaware Basin Monthly User Group Meetings. Watershed organizations and volunteers within the Delaware River Basin Monitoring Station network. Held virtually every third Thursday of the month.
- Delaware Riverkeeper Network Pocono Stream Protection, Monitoring Station Installation Video. Brodhead Watershed Association, Tobyhanna Creek/Tunkhannock Creek Watershed Association, Tunkhanna Fishing Association, and Delaware Riverkeeper. Monroe County, Pennsylvania. 14 July 2022.
- [Virtual] EnviroDIY Monitoring Station Troubleshooting Workshop. Stroud Water Research Center. Avondale, Pennsylvania. 23 June 2021.
- [Virtual] Open-Source Electronic Hardware for Water Research and Real-Time Online Water Monitoring, Consortium for the Advancement of Hydrological Science, Inc. and Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale, Pennsylvania. 9 November 2020.
- EnviroDIY: A Community and Resources for Do-It-Yourself Environmental Science and Monitoring American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2020. First author for The MacGyver Session Virtual poster presentation. 7 December 2020.
- EnviroDIY Monitoring Station Build Workshop, Trout Unlimited and Stroud Water Research Center. Rockford Community Cabin, Rockford, Michigan. 22–23 July 2019.
- Computer Science Students Get Their Boots Wet: Milton Hershey School and Stroud Water Research Center. Hershey, Pennsylvania. June 2018.
- Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) Population Status, Spatial Distribution, and Microhabitat Use in a Pennsylvania Stream. 5th Annual Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. 4 August 2015.
