Scientists
The lifeblood of SC² is our network of scientists.
At SC², we work in the Skagit basin to understand how the people, landscape, plants, and animals may be affected by changes in the patterns of rain, snow, temperature, storms, and tides. We have wide-ranging expertise, specializing in topics ranging from climate variability and glacial history to hydrology and fisheries biology, and have experience at federal, state, municipal, tribal, university, and non-governmental organizations. Many of us call the Skagit basin home and most of us spend many hours in the field conducting our research.
Park Butte Lookout, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
© Wyatt Mullen
-
Jeffrey Fisher
AFFILIATE
Dr. Jeffrey Fisher is an aquatic ecologist and ecotoxicologist with 25 years of post-doctoral experience evaluating physical, chemical, and biological impacts on aquatic animals and ecosystem function. He has conducted aquatic habitat evaluations, biodiversity surveys, ecological and invasive species risk assessments, environmental remediation, fish health assessments, and habitat restoration projects in marine, freshwater, and wetland environments in many regions of the country.
-
Roger Fuller
BOARD MEMBER
Roger Fuller is the Natural Resource and Restoration Stewardship Coordinator at Padilla Bay Reserve. He has expertise in estuarine ecology, restoration ecology, climate change impacts, climate change adaptation, and decision-support tools. He has been working on climate science issues specific to the Skagit since 2010 and on other issues in the Skagit since 2002.
-
Correigh Greene
MEMBER
Dr. Correigh Greene is a population ecologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. His work focuses on the population dynamics of estuary-dependent species and Pacific salmon, including the influence of climate on juvenile outmigrations and adult returns. His climate research started in 2003 as he examined the relative influence of winter floods compared to other environmental factors on adult return rates.
-
Eric Grossman
MEMBER
Dr. Eric Grossman is a coastal and marine geologist with the United States Geological Survey. He has been working on climate and ecosystem science in the Skagit since 2006. His research has focused on estuarine mixing, sediment transport, and nearshore habitat change.
-
Alan Hamlet
MEMBER
Dr. Alan Hamlet is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He was formerly at the University of Washington and part of the Climate Impacts Group an internationally recognized interdisciplinary research group studying the impacts of natural climate variability and global climate change.
-
Greg Hood
MEMBER
Dr. Greg Hood is a senior research scientist with the Skagit River Systems Cooperative. His specialties include estuarine ecology and geomorphology. He has worked on the Skagit Delta since 2000 and has been studying Pacific Northwest wetlands from the Columbia River to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta since 1989.
-
Tarang Khangaonkar
MEMBER
Dr. Tarang Khangaonkar is an applied marine physics and ocean engineer and technical group manager for the Integrated Coastal Ocean Modeling Group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He has been working in the Skagit on climate science since 2001. His main focus in the Skagit has been on hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and water quality modeling in the Skagit River Estuary from the floodplain to the coastal waters of Skagit Bay.
-
Peter Kiffney
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Peter Kiffney has been working in the Watershed Program at National Marine Fisheries Service’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center for over 20 years doing extensive research on the habitat needs of salmon and other species of the Pacific Northwest. He received his B.S. degree in Geology from the University of North Carolina and his M.S. in Aquatic Science from the University of California-Davis, followed by a Ph.D. in Fishery and Wildlife Biology and Ecology at Colorado State University.
-
Wes Lauer
MEMBER
Dr. Wes Lauer works as a professor in the civil and environmental engineering and environmental science programs at Seattle University. His educational background includes degrees from the University of Minnesota (Ph.D., 2006), U.C. Berkeley (M.Eng., 1998), and Walla Walla University (B.S.E. in Civil Engineering, 1996).
-
Guillaume Mauger
MEMBER
Dr. Guillaume Mauger is the Washington State Climatologist and a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group. Dr. Mauger has worked on Skagit climate issues since 2009 , focusing on observed and projected changes in climate and hydrology, with a particular emphasis on flooding and stormwater.
-
Robert Mitchell
MEMBER
Dr. Bob Mitchell is an emeritus professor in the Geology Department at Western Washington University where he was faculty member for 30 years. His actionable science research has focused on water-resource issues and climate-change resilience in the Puget Sound region including modeling the effects of projected climate change on mountain hydrology, stream temperatures, and hillslope processes, and has worked on aquifer characterization in the lower Skagit River valley.
-
Dave Peterson
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Dave Peterson is Professor of Forest Biology in the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and Emeritus Senior Scientist with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). He works with the USDA Northwest Climate Hub and USFS Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center to develop climate change assessments and adaptation strategies in national forests and other lands throughout the western United States.
-
Jon Riedel
MEMBER
Dr. Jon Riedel, SC2 Board Chair until 2026, brings expertise in the areas of geomorphology, glacial history, and glacial mass balance. He has been engaged in research on climate science in the Skagit region since the1980s. Dr. Riedel’s primary focus of research is the glacial history of climate change, including the response of glaciers to modern climate change and the implications of that response for water resources.
-
John Rybczyk
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. John Rybczyk currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science at Western Washington University. His research focuses on coastal wetland restoration, restoration monitoring, and the response of coastal wetlands and estuarine systems to climate change, particularly sea-level rise. For the past 25 years, much of Dr. Rybczyk’s research has been focused on the Skagit and Stillaguamish estuaries where he established and maintains a network of over 60 long-term coastal elevation benchmark stations in the coastal marshes.
-
Kathryn Sobocinski
AFFILIATE
Dr. Kathryn Sobocinski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Marine and Coastal Science program at Western Washington University. She is an applied marine ecologist focusing on fishes, fish habitats, and impacts of human disturbance and climate change in coastal ecosystems. She uses statistical, ecological, and individual-based models in conjunction with field data to describe patterns and processes in these ecosystems.
-
Ronda Strauch
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Ronda Strauch is the Climate Change Research and Adaptation Advisor for Seattle City Light, where she helps the utility increase climate resilience. Prior to this position, she was a postdoctoral fellow with the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center hosted by University of Washington (UW) Climate Impacts Group. Her Ph.D. research with UW Civil and Environmental Engineering focused on landslide modeling in the Skagit River watershed.
-
Larry Wasserman
BOARD MEMBER
Larry Wasserman is currently retired. For the past thirty years he served as an environmental policy manager, first for the Yakama Indian Nation from 1982 to 1991, and then for the Skagit System Cooperative and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community from 1991 until 2019. He continues to provide consultant services on limited topics to the Swinomish Tribe.
Both SC² members and affiliates engage in Skagit-based climate science, but SC² members also formally participate in the governance of SC² as a nonprofit.
If you are a scientist conducting climate-related work specific to the Skagit basin or someone interested in climate change in the Skagit watershed we would like to hear from you.
Skagit River, Concrete
Image Credit: Tim Palmer
Administrative Support
-
Ryan Kinney
FINANCE
Ryan Kinney is the owner of Echo Consulting and provides part‑time accounting and tax preparation services to SC2. Ryan serves on nonprofit boards and supports mission‑driven organizations across Skagit County, offering practical financial guidance rooted in community needs. After nearly twenty years in accounting, finance and software engineering roles at John Deere, Ryan brings a grounded understanding of how agricultural communities respond to environmental and climate challenges.
-
Carol MacIlroy
PROJECT MANAGER
Carol MacIlroy is an independent natural resources management contractor who works part-time in support of SC2 efforts. She is the owner of Carol MacIlroy Consulting Corporation. She is a strategic and analytical thinker who has worked across the Puget Sound region helping communities and organizations address environmental and societal issues.
-
Amy Trainer
AFFILIATE
Amy Trainer brings thirty years of conservation success as a strategic advocate, coalition builder and environmental policy expert to her work as the Director of Environmental Policy for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. In this role since 2019, she provides policy advice to the Tribe’s elected Senate, and leads intergovernmental affairs for a variety of local, state, federal, tribal and transboundary natural resources matters.
-
Steve Walker
ADMINISTRATOR
Steve Walker runs Salish Roots, providing executive and governance services to nonprofits and other mission-based organizations. Prior to founding Salish Roots, he studied as a lawyer to understand and reshape the social and economic systems we live in. He brought that knowledge into the classroom as a high school teacher and went on to start a curriculum organization that supports tens of thousands of teachers across the nation. He has supported dozens of nonprofits and social enterprises in scaling or restructuring to achieve their mission.