May Student Spotlight: Alyssa Anenberg
Alyssa is a Master’s candidate in Watershed Science in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at CSU. Prior to her graduate studies, she received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences with a minor in Sustainability from California State University, Chico. Her current research—which was recently awarded at Hydrology Days—focuses on linking snow persistence and biogeochemistry in mountain regions and understanding the associated impacts of climate change on catchment hydrology.
Alyssa is currently working on a project to determine how climate warming directly affects snowpack dynamics in the western United States, and how it results in decreased snow cover and earlier snowmelt. The goal of her research is to understand how the duration of snow persistence affects soil moisture across an elevation gradient and how this gradient in snowpack affects soil water nitrogen. She is working at three research sites in the Colorado Front Range to monitor snow, soil moisture, and soil water nitrogen. Her hope is that this research will increase our understanding of how changes in the duration and quantity of snowpack affect the supply of soil water nitrogen in these mountain regions.
