I'm originally from Michigan and received my B.S. in Environmental Science from Lake Superior State University in 1996. Soon thereafter, I took a seasonal job in Yosemite National Park and made the Sierra my home for the next 13 years. I originally worked for the concessions company, but transitioned to the National Park Service to do hydrology tech work for the U.S.G.S., Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the California Cooperative Snow Surveys. This work focused on water quality, water quantity and climate change. The exposure to those hydroclimate luminaries and their projects was the motivation to return school and pursue an M.S. For my thesis work, I'm using the University of Washington's Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) to simulate watershed processes on a small, timber-harvest basin in the Freshwater area. I'm using a 6-year stream and sediment discharge record as well as other in-basin observations like rain gages, temperature / humidity sensors, and sediment source inventories to calibrate and validate the model. I'm expecting to graduate by the end of 2011. I'm currently working for California State Parks collecting and assimilating data for a major floodplain restoration project on Bull Creek in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Brian Huggett graduated in 2012 and currently teaches GIS at Humboldt as a lecturer and runs a GIS consulting business.