My students and I are interested in the processes controlling stream behaviour, and the way that rivers respond to environmental changes. We are conducting research on the morphodynamic processes controlling stream channel stability. We are also applying these fundamental results to better understand the influence of floods, forest fires and dam construction on bed material transport, the dynamics of large wood, and physical habitat for fish.
NEWS: check out the experimental videos from our stream table experiments on Lucy MacKenzie’s youtube channel.
prospective students
I am always interested in talking to prospective students, and I am currently considering applications for MSc students and PhD students. Interested applicants should contact BRETT EATON via email with a statement of research interests and an up-to-date set of university transcripts.
Each February, we interview BSc or BA students interested in summer research assistantships to support our ongoing research. Canadian students with a first-class average (or an average above 80%) are eligible for NSERC USRA awards, which provide funding for an undergraduate position with a research group. Students interested in this opportunity should contact me in person or by email in January.
equity, diversity, and inclusion
Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. At UBC in general, and in my research group in particular, we encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.
current research group
- Will Booker (PhD)
- Nastaran Nematollahi (PhD)
- Maryam Akbari (incoming PhD, Sept. 2023)
- Amy McIntyre (MSc)
- Carlie Hughes (MSc)
- Emma Lowe (MSc)
recent theses
- David Adams. 2023. Gravel-bed river behaviour: modelling and analysis of process feedbacks over spatio-temporal scales.
- Anya Leenman. 2021. Environmental variability and geomorphic responses on alluvial fans: an experimental study (PhD Thesis)
- Lauren Vincent. 2020. The importance of secondary processes on alluvial fan morphology, channel behaviour, and flood hazards. (MSc Thesis)
- L. MacKenzie. 2019. Channel stability in alluvial gravel bed streams. (PhD Thesis)
- K. De Rego. 2018. Decadal scale evolution of Elwha River downstream of Glines Canyon dam. (PhD Thesis)
- H. Williams. 2018. Paraglacial landscape evolution in a rapidly deglaciating environment. (MSc Thesis)
- W. Booker. 2018. The controls of morphodynamics in steep, aggrading channels (MSc Thesis)
- R. Beagley. 2017. Effect of alternate stopbank alignments on the Waiho River, New Zela (MSc Thesis)
- S. Gauthier-Fauteux. 2017. Linking fluvial dynamics to white sturgeon habitat in the Nechako River, BC.(MSc Thesis)
- S. Davidson. 2016. Modeling disturbance and channel evolution in mountain streams (PhD Thesis)
- A. Tamminga. 2016. UAV-based remote sensing of fluvial hydrogeomorphology and aquatic habitat dynamics (PhD Thesis)
- L. Winterhalt. 2015. Physical habitat below a hydropeaking dam : examining progressive downstream change (MSc Thesis)
- D.S. Luzi. 2014. Sediment transport and morphological response of a semi-alluvial stream (PhD Thesis)
- L. MacKenzie. 2014. Modelling channel morphodynamics : the effects of large wood and bed grain size distribution (MSc Thesis)
- H. Buehler. 2013. Impact of a hydropeaking dam on the Kananaskis River (MSc Thesis)
- D. McParland. 2013. Empirical in-stream flow assessment tools for British Columbian channels (MSc Thesis)
- S.L. Davidson. 2011. Modelling channel morphodynamics associated with large wood in an intermediate-sized stream (MSc Thesis)
- C.A.E. Andrews. 2010. A stream in transition : short term morphodynamics of Fishtrap Creek following wildfire (MSc Thesis)