He specializes in the physical geography of rivers, the fusion of physical geography with geographic information science, geomorphology, hydrology, and remote sensing. His educational training included a B.S. in Geography at the University of Wisconsin, a M.A. in Geography at Ohio University (Athens, OH), and, in 2000, a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ). He was a postdoctoral fellow at Montana State University from 2000-2001, taught at Texas State University from 2001-2011, and has taught at the University of Oregon beginning in 2011. His more recent work has focused on the high-resolution remote sensing of river habitats, modeling of river dynamics and ecotones, and hydrological work on the upcoming NASA SWOT satellite.