Dr. Helen Willemien Dow (maiden name: Beeson)

I am a geomorphologist interested in the processes that shape Earth's surface and how Earth's dynamic landscape influences life. My PhD research focused on how river channels and river networks respond to external forcing, how river basins form and evolve, and how drainage area exchange between river basins can shape landscapes. From 2019-2022 I worked as a postdoc in Sean Willett's Earth Surface Dynamics group at ETH Zürich, investigating why mountainous regions host high biodiversity by coupling a landscape evolution model with a mechanistic biodiversity model. In March 2022, I joined the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center where I am working with Amy East, Jon Warrick, and Joel Sankey to study terrestrial sediment supply to west coast nearshore environments in the context of shifting hydroclimate and fire weather regimes in California.