Meet our lab group

Anna Marshall

Assistant Professor and PI of the Riverscapes Lab

I'm a fluvial geomorphologist broadly interested in how rivers shape landscapes and how humans shape rivers. My fascination with flowing water began early. Growing up in Maine, I spent every chance I could get either submerged in water or building intricate channels of my own, but it wasn't until my undergraduate degree at Connecticut College that I learned how to study a river as a scientist. I worked as an ecological restoration project manager in the Northeast for several years on projects ranging from dam removal to coastal resiliency prior to getting my MS and PhD in geosciences at Colorado State University working with Ellen Wohl.

My research explores physical processes and drivers that maintain important ecosystem functions in rivers as well as the loss of these processes in more heavily modified systems. I use this knowledge to figure out how we can improve riverscape function and resilience and work with a wide array of partners to integrate our research findings into river restoration, management, and policy. I believe science thrives when it is rooted in community-based needs and am interested in learning from and integrating those perspectives and projects into my work.

Spending time on rocks and in rivers blends work and play for me. Outside of my research and teaching, I still spend much of my time exploring mountain and river environments where I enjoy skiing, climbing, trail running, biking, and kayaking.

Hope Hutchinson

M.S. Student

My name is Hope and I am originally from Nashville, Tennessee. I got my undergraduate degree in Geography and Sustainability at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and have continued my studies in geography there by getting my master's. My master's thesis is focused on studying river restoration and connectivity in southern Appalachia. When I am not focusing on academics, I like to spend my time traveling, reading books, attempting to solve sudoku puzzles, and spending time with family, friends, and my dog Eliot!

Rae Tennent

M.S Student

I’m a newbie in the world of fluvial geomorphology, but I’m so excited to be here! I grew up in Nashville and then moved to Minnesota to study Geology at Carleton College. At Carleton, I focused on paleoclimate reconstruction and used sediment cores from some of Minnesota’s abundant lakes to study hydroclimate variations over the Holocene. I then moved to DC, to work for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), where I helped to maintain and monitor the long-term climate change experiments being conducted there. Working at SERC got me interested in the geology of modern systems, and watching the impacts of Hurricane Helene from afar made me wonder how I could help out back home. For my master’s thesis, I will study the impact Hurricane Helene had on sediment storage and movement in the headwater streams of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

When I’m not playing in streams and calling it research, I like to bike around town, hike with friends, and sketch geologic outcrops.

Lab Alumni

Ella Saunders

Spring + Summer 2025 undergraduate researcher

B.S. Geographic Information Science and Technology

Project: Using LiDAR and Remote Sensing to Assess Flood-Driven Stream Changes in the Cataloochee Valley Following Hurricane Helene

Undergraduate Department Research Award, 1st in the TNView remote sensing competition at the Tennessee Geographic Information Conference, winner of a TNView remote sensing fellowship, and Ralston Geospatial Achievement Award from Department of Geography & Sustainability

Mya Robertson

Fall 2025 undergraduate researcher

B.A. Geography

Project: Synthesizing dam removal monitoring across the state of Tennessee

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