Lissa MacVean

• PhD: University of California, Berkeley, 2010
• MSE: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2000
• BSE: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1999

Learn more about my research in wave-sediment interactions in this video from the USGS.

I am interested in the physics of water in lakes, estuaries and marine coastal environments. In particular, my work connects fine-scale processes, such as turbulence, wave-sediment interactions and stratification to large-scale implications, including dispersion and mean currents that influence coastal morphology. My research spans the shallowest regions of water bodies and explores the controls of perimeter habitats on the functioning of the larger system. Specifically, my interests include:

• Salt- and sediment-induced stratification
• Wave-turbulence interactions
• Dispersion processes in estuaries
• Coastal habitat restoration
• Dissolved oxygen dynamics in tidal systems
• Freshwater sources to estuarine and coastal systems, including hill-slope hydrology

• Professional Civil Engineer (California, Lic #67284)
• Member, American Geophysical Society
• Member, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation

• Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, US Geological Survey, 2010-2013
• Jane Lewis Graduate Fellowship, University of California–Berkeley, 2006–2007
• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of California 2006
• Berkeley, fall 2006 Tucker Fellowship, University of California–Berkeley, 2004–2005

• MacVean, LJ, Thompson, S, Hutton, P and Sivapalan, M. 2018. Reconstructing Early Hydrologic Change in the California Delta and its Watersheds, Water Resources Research, 10.1029/2017WR021426.
• Thompson, S, MacVean, LJ and Sivapalan, M. 2017. A Stochastic Water Balance Framework for Lowland Watersheds, Water Resources Research, 53-11, 9564-9579, 10.1002/2017WR021193.
• Lacy, JR and MacVean, LJ. 2016. Wave attenuation in the shallows of San Francisco Bay, Coastal Engineering, 114, pp 159 – 168, 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2016.03.008.
• MacVean, LJ and Lacy, JR, 2014, Interactions between waves, sediment, and turbulence on a shallow estuarine mudflat, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119-3, pp 1534-1553, 10.1002/2013JC009477.
• MacVean, LJ and Stacey, MT, 2011. Estuarine Dispersion from Tidal Trapping: A New Analytical Framework, Estuaries and Coasts, 34-1, pp 45-59, 10.1007/s12237-010-9298-x.