Hello! I took on the role of MES Director in July 2023 and have been enjoying my time back in the MES program. I taught in MES between 2011-2014 and had a great time supporting thesis projects during that time. I am happily supporting new thesis students in addition to supporting our fabulous MES faculty and staff in serving our new MES cohorts! I am a freshwater ecologist and spend a lot of my time in the field and the lab studying how riparian forests interact with streams. I am involved in global collaborations to study how the decomposition of organic matter is influenced by landscape scale patterns. In 2018 I received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study how streams at Mount St. Helens have developed in the decades since the eruption in 1980 with collaborators from the US Forest Service and Missouri State University. In collaboration with scientists from NOAA and USGS, my students and I studied how organic matter processing in the Elwha River is recovering following the historic removal of two large dams. I love mentoring students (both MES students and undergraduates) in the scientific writing process and have published with over 50 student co-authors over the years. As recognition of this work, I was honored by President Biden with a 2021 Presidential Award for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Finally, about ten years ago Oscar Soule (the first MES Director) asked me to take over for him as the ecologist on an annual Grand Canyon river trip with Grand Canyon Expeditions. I’m happy to say those trips have been the most amazing opportunity to stay connected with the desert SW. Thanks Oscar! I’ve lived in Olympia for almost 20 years, and it has been an amazing place to raise my daughter (who is now 17). I live in west Olympia with my daughter and husband, Dylan Fischer.

Please stay in-touch with me at: leroyc@evergreen.edu!