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​Job Title: Graduate Research Assistant
Primary Affiliation: Department of Watershed Sciences
Secondary Affiliation: Ecogeomorphology & Topographic Analysis Lab
Degree Seeking: M.S. - Watershed Science
Faculty Advisor: Joe Wheaton
Committee Members: Nick Bouwes, Christopher Neale
Year Started: 2010
Year Completed: 2012
Funding Sources: Ecological Research, Inc., NOAA Fisheries, Bonneville Power Authority

currently

​Sara is currently working for the ET-AL lab (see here).

Read Sara's Thesis

scholarly outputs

education

• 2006 BS. Environmental Science & Geography. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
• 2013 MS. Watershed Sciences. Utah State University, Logan, UT.

research

• General interests are in fluvial geomorphology, watershed processes, fish ecology, land use politics and how all of these elements interplay in the riverine systems of the West.
• Graduate research is focused on intercomparing the cost and relative accuracy of using newer and established ground-based and remote sensing technologies to describe topography and quantify instream salmonid physical habitat.  This research is being conducted in the Lemhi River Basin of Idaho and employs a host of methods of varying degrees of sophistication including: total station, rtkGPS, ground-based LiDaR, single beam acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP), airborne multi-return infrared LiDaR, blimp aerial RGB imagery, UAV drone RGB imagery, fixed-wing aerial imagery.  Through this study we hope to answer questions related to the feasibility of applying  these technologies at the scale of large watershed habitat monitoring programs.   

bio

Sara is a graduate research assistant in Dr. Joe Wheaton's ET-AL lab at Utah State University.  She graduated in 2006 from University of Oregon with a BS in Environmental Science and Geography. Since completing her undergraduate degree she has worked for several Columbia River Basin  instream habitat monitoring programs including NOAA's Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP) and the United States Forest Service Pacfish/Infish Biological Opinion Monitoring Program (PIBO-EMP).  As well, Sara spent a year interning with the California Department of Fish and Game on the Northern California coast as an AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) member.  ​

projects

• Intercomparison of airborne and ground-based topographic survey techniques for characterizing instream habitat, Lemhi River basin, Idaho, USA
• The influence of crew variability when using high resolution topographic surveys to monitor instream habitat, Upper Grande Ronde River basin, Oregon, USA

scholarly contributions

Publications

• 2015. Wheaton JM, Fryirs K, Brierley G, Bangen S, Bouwes N, and O’Brien G. Geomorphic Mapping and Taxonomy of Fluvial Landforms. Geomorphology. 248: 273-295. DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.010
• Bangen SG*, Wheaton JM, Bouwes N, Jordan C, Volk C and Ward M. 2014  Crew variability in topographic surveys for monitoring wadeable streams: a case study from the Columbia River Basin. Earth Surface Processes and Land Forms. DOI: 10.1002/esp.3600. 
• Bangen SG*, Wheaton JM and Bouwes N. 2014. A methodological intercomparison of topographic survey techniques for characterizing wadeable streams and rivers. Geomorphology. DOI:  10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.10.010.
• In Revision.♠  Bangen S‡ , Hensleigh J‡, McHugh P, and Wheaton JM.  Error modeling of DEMs from topographic surveys of rivers using Fuzzy Inference Systems. Submitted to Water Resources Research. 
• Bangen, SG. 2013. Comparison of topographic surveying techniques in streams. MS Thesis. Utah State University.

Conference Papers, Presentations & Posters

• Poster: Bangen SG, Wheaton JM, and Bouwes, N. 2011. Methodological Intercomparison of Topographic & Aerial Photographic Habitat Survey Techniques, American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
• Poster: Bangen SG, Wheaton JM, and Bouwes, N. 2011. Crew Variability in Topographic Data: Can Large Stream Habitat Monitoring Programs Reliably Sample Habitat?, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
• Poster:  Portugal EP, Bangen SG and Wheaton JM.  2011. The Relative Importance of Insterting IN Breaklines in DEM Creation, AGU Fall Meeting 2011.  American Geophysical Union: San Francisco, CA, H51I-1312.
• Presentation: Wheaton JM and Bangen SG. 2011. Crew Variability in Topographic Data, Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program Post Pilot Season Workshop.  NOAA: Portland, OR
• Presentation: Wheaton JM, Bangen SG and Portugal EP. 2011. Topographic Survey Comparisons, Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program Post Pilot Season Workshop.  NOAA: Portland, OR
• Poster: Bangen SG, Wheaton JM, and Bouwes, N. 2010. Quantifying Stream Habitat: Relative Effort versus Quality of Competing Remote Sensing & Ground-based Survey Techniques, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Reports

• Bangen SG, Wheaton JM and DeMeurichy KD. 2011. Methodological Intercomparison of Topographic & Aerial Photographic Habitat Survey Techniques.  Ecogeomorphology and Topographic Analysis Lab, Utah State University, Prepared for Eco Logical Research and NOAA, Logan, Utah, 33 pp.
• Bangen SG and Wheaton JM, 2012, CHaMP Crew Variability: Influence on Topographic Surfaces & Derived Metrics. Draft Report to Eco Logical Research, Inc. & Columbia Habitat and Monitoring Program: Logan, UT. 88 Pages.

Thesis:

• Bangen S. 2013. Comparison of Topographic Surveying Techniques in Streams. MS, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 151 pp. Available: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1516/.

​♠ Bangen contributing author.