Engineering East, Conference Room 303

Join The Sensing Institute (I-SENSE) for another Distinguished Seminar speaker event with Matt Cohen!



Seminar Title: Sometimes You Can Observe a Lot Just by Watching: Sensors, Theory, and the Inner Workings of Aquatic Ecosystems



Abstract: High-frequency sensors have transformed our capacity to observe the phenomenology of environmental variation, and the resulting data streams have enabled new tests of ecosystem and watershed theory. This talk will describe five breakthroughs in river and watershed science enabled by high frequency measurements from in situ sensors, ranging from multi-decadal time series of stream metabolism and nutrient assimilation, to deploying sensors in a Lagrangian reference frame to extract spatial patterns of river function, to detecting the coupled signals of short and long-term water storage embedded in patterns of watershed solute release. These examples highlight the fertile interplay of theory and measurements in the context of aquatic ecosystem stewardship, and the talk will close with thoughts on the next generation of insights needed to better understand and manage our water resources.



Matt Cohen is the Carl Swisher Eminent Scholar in Water Resources and Director of the Water Institute at the University of Florida. His research focuses on wetlands, rivers, and aquifers. He received a BS from Swarthmore College (PA) in environmental engineering and a PhD from the University of Florida in systems ecology. His scholarly passion is ecohydrology, which explores the critical interface of ecosystems and water. His research has focused on Florida, exploring the impacts of land management on water quality and quantity, the health and function of wetlands, and changes in the energy basis of river ecosystems. His most recent work focuses on the restoration of Florida’s wetlandscapes, deep-learning from patterns of high frequency water quality variation, and the impacts of nutrient loading in flowing waters.

Lectures, colloquia, seminars, etc., Discussions