Advisor: Sara Rathburn
Email: Itai.Bojdak-Yates@colostate.edu
Previous Education: B.A. – Geosciences and Environmental Studies, Lawrence University, 2023
About Me:
Born and raised in northern California, I grew up hiking in the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada and exploring the headlands and salt marshes along the Pacific. I first studied geology as an undergraduate in Wisconsin (which was a bit of a culture and climate shock for me) and developed a deeper appreciation for the natural world and the processes that shape it. I conducted research on the provenance and heterogeneities of Cambrian sandstones and got to know the rivers, forests, prairies, and ancient terranes of the Upper Midwest. After graduating, I helped remediate abandoned mines as an intern with the US Forest Service in western Colorado, then found work as an environmental scientist on wildfire debris cleanups in Hawai’i, California, and New Mexico. My experiences on these projects renewed my interest in the movement of water and sediment, and I decided to pursue a master’s degree to gain a richer understanding of geomorphology.
Research Focus:
My research seeks to quantify the retention time and porosity of beaver dams and beaver dam analogs (BDAs) in streams in the northern Front Range. Through volume and discharge measurements, tracer tests, and isotope surveys, I intend to better constrain the rate at which water moves through these in-channel structures and thus improve our ability to model the outcomes of stream restoration projects and beaver reintroduction. My research will help restoration practitioners develop a better understanding of how in-channel structures impound and redirect water, which is critically important as these structures are built at restoration sites across the West.