Audrey Sawyer and her research group are focused on two research themes:

1. Understanding interactions between surface water and groundwater in streams, rivers, estuaries, and coasts
2. Determining hydrologic controls on the movement of nutrients, contaminants, and heat in watersheds

Sawyer's group pursues these themes by combining laboratory and field observations with mathematical modelling. Sawyer maintains a computational hydrodynamics laboratory with hydrogeologic field instrumentation, experimental tanks, and high-performance computing.