Sandy recently (2025) retired from a 40-year career as a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that took her to nearly every state and several foreign countries.  She started at the USGS, Ohio District Office, while working on her MS in Geology at OSU.  Sandy initially applied her numerical modeling and geochemistry background to water quantity and quality projects throughout Ohio and surrounding states.  She later served as a technical liaison for site characterization and clean-up of Air Force industrial facilities nationwide as a member of the USGS Department of Defense Environmental Conservation (DODEC) Program leadership team. Sandy spent more than a decade working for the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) in the roles of Team Lead for a national study of the transport of anthropogenic and natural contaminants to public-supply wells, Team Lead for the national Groundwater Modeling & Mapping Team, and Regional Program Officer for the Northeast and Midwest Regions. Sandy moved to the Water Resources Mission Area’s Office of Planning and Programming to serve as Program Science Coordinator.  Her primary responsibility during this time was to engage regional and national-level stakeholders to cultivate opportunities for USGS science to meet their needs and to create excitement for USGS products long before their planned release.  Sandy retired from the USGS as Director of the Water Resources Mission Area, Earth System Processes Division, which conducts disciplinary and interdisciplinary process studies, research and development, and regional and national assessments of water resources status and trends to address the Nation's highest-priority water challenges.  Sandy is a Professional Hydrologist licensed by the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH).  

I truly loved working for the USGS. The people were wonderful, the work was intellectually stimulating, and the mission of the Water Resources Mission Area was (and remains) very important. While I am no longer working day-to-day as a professional hydrologist, I do plan to prioritize science advocacy in the years to come and am excited to continue with the OSU School of Earth Sciences Alumni Advisory Board.  OSU provided me with the foundation that I needed for my very rewarding career with the USGS and for that I will forever be grateful.