Faculty & Staff

Stephen H. Schoenholtz

Director of the Water Center and Professor of Forest Hydrology and Soils, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

210 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 0711 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: stephen.schoenholtz@vt.edu

Research Website and Department Website

Stephen H. Schoenholtz is the director of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center and professor of forest hydrology and soils in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech. He has also served on faculties in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University and the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University. His teaching and research interests involve interactions between land management and water and soil resources. He has Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in forest soil science from Virginia Tech and B.S. degrees in forest science and biology from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Schoenholtz is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, American Water Resources Association, Society of American Foresters, Society of Wetland Scientists, and Universities Council on Water Resources.


Kevin J. McGuire

Associate Director of the Water Center and Professor of Hydrology, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

210-B Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 6017 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: kevin.mcguire@vt.edu

Research Website and Department Website

Kevin McGuire is the Virginia Water Resources Research Center’s associate director and professor of hydrology. He holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. His research interests focus on watershed management and forest hydrology, runoff generation processes, tracer and isotope applications in hydrology, and land use and climate change effects on water resources. He has a Ph.D. degree in Forest Engineering from Oregon State, an M.S. degree in Forest Resources from Penn State, and a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Susquehanna University. Dr. McGuire has taught graduate courses at Plymouth State, Oregon State, and Penn State in the areas 50of hydrology and watershed management. He teaches several courses in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation.  Kevin is a member of the American Water Resources Association, American Geophysical Union, International Association for Hydrological Sciences, and Hubbard Brook LTER Committee of Scientists.


Luke Juran 

Associate Professor of Human Ecology of Water, Department of Geography

125 Major Williams Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 0265 | Fax: (540) 231 2089 Email: ljuran@vt.edu

Research Website

Luke Juran is an associate professor in the human ecology of water in the Department of Geography. Juran’s research and teaching interests focus on coupled water-society constructs. He is particularly interested in anthropogenic stressors upon water resources, human interactions with the inadequate provision of water and sanitation services, and the intersection of water and hazards. Juran conducts most of his research in India, but has also conducted research in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Mexico. Dr. Juran is a member of the Association of American Geographers, the Virginia Geographic Alliance, and the International Network on Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage.


Daniel L. McLaughlin 

Associate Professor of Ecohydrology, Department of Forest Resources and Conservation

210-C Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 6616 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: mclaugd@vt.edu

Research Website

Daniel McLaughlin is an associate professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. His research broadly focuses on informing water resource management through a better understanding of biotic and abiotic drivers of ecosystem function. Specific research and teaching interests include forest ecohydrology, wetland and stream processes, emerging environmental sensors, watershed and landscape hydrology, and biogeomorphology. He has a Ph.D. in Systems Ecology and Ecological Engineering from the University of Florida, a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Clemson University, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. Daniel is a member of the American Geophysical Union, Society of Wetland Scientists, and Society for Freshwater Science.


Alan Raflo

Research Associate

210 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 5463 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: araflo@vt.edu

Water Radio Website    The News Grouper Website

Alan Raflo is a research associate with the Water Center. His main work is to produce and host the podcast Virginia Water Radio, using sounds and music to frame explorations of water-related organisms, science, and current issues. Mr. Raflo received a B.S. degree in Economic Biology from Clemson University in 1979 and a M.S. degree in Water Resources (limnology concentration) from Iowa State University in 1988. He also attended Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., to become certified to teach high school biology. Prior to joining the Virginia Water Center in 1997, Mr. Raflo had previously worked as an educator for a natural history museum, an editor of agricultural economics publications, a water-resource planner, an aquatic biologist, and a science teacher for grades K-8.


Jane Walker

Research Associate

210 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 4159 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: janewalk@vt.edu

Ms. Walker is a research associate with the Water Center. She works with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on issues related to stormwater best management practices (BMPs).  She manages the Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse, the Commonwealth’s reference site for stormwater BMPs used to comply with the Virginia Stormwater Management Program.  She also provides administrative support to the Virginia Water Monitoring Council, an organization that promotes collaboration and information sharing among water monitors and water-monitoring data users in the state. Ms. Walker holds a B.S. degree in biology with a minor in biochemistry from James Madison University and has a M.S. degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia.


Liz Sharp

Research Assistant

210 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 5624 | Email: lizsharp@vt.edu

Liz Sharp is a research assistant with the Water Center. Her responsibilities include Water Degree planning and adminstration, website development, management of the Virginia Water Educators Directory, and administration of the annual Water Center Internship. Ms. Sharp holds a B.S. in Forest Resource Management and a M.S. in Forestry, with a specialization in Forest Soils and Hydrology, from Virginia Tech.


Inga Solberg

Business Manager

210 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231 8031 | Fax: (540) 231 6673 Email: ingasol@vt.edu

Ms. Solberg is the center’s fiscal manager and primary contact for all matters of a fiscal nature. She handles the Water Center’s day-to-day fiscal operation and grant administration. Ms. Solberg has been with the center since 1983.


Kora Bednar

Undergraduate Student Intern

Kora Bednar is an intern for the Virginia Water Resource Research Center for Spring 2024.  She is  majoring in Water: Resources, Policy, and Management and plans to graduate in 2025.  After graduation she has planned a career in traveling to developing countries to work on water quality issues in rural communities.


Logan Flanagan

Virginia Water Monitoring Council Intern

Logan Flanagan is working at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center as an intern for the Virginia Water Monitoring Council. He is majoring in Water: Resources, Policy, and Management with a minor in Geographic Information Systems and plans to graduate in 2025. He hopes to pursue a career in water quality monitoring with a federal or state agency. 


Lauren Handley

Undergraduate Student Intern

Lauren Handley is an intern for the Virginia Water Resources Research Center during the Spring of 2024. She is majoring in Water: Resources, Policy, and Management with a minor in Pathways to Sustainability and plans to graduate in 2026. She aims to pursue a career in either water conservation and sustainability or hydrology with a focus in climate change.


Jenna Kalgren

Undergraduate Student Intern

Jenna Kalgren is completing her internship with the Virginia Tech Water Center. She is majoring in Meteorology with a minor in Geographic Information Science and plans to graduate in 2024. She hopes to pursue a career as a meteorologist at a weather station office after graduation.


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