Rate My Professor Brandee Carlson

Brandee Carlson is an Assistant Professor of Geomorphology in the Geoscience faculty at the University of Houston's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences from Rice University in May 2020, where her dissertation titled "The geomorphic evolution of abandoned deltaic lobes and distributary channels" was advised by Dr. Jeffrey Nittrouer. Prior to her doctoral studies, she earned a B.Sc. with Honors in Geological Sciences, majoring in Hydrogeology, from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2013, with an undergraduate thesis on "Basin Depth Control on the Autogenic Timescale of Fluviodeltaic Systems" advised by Dr. Wonsuck Kim. Her career includes postdoctoral positions as an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research from 2021 to 2022, advised by Dr. Irina Overeem, and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Vanderbilt University's Department of Earth and Environmental Science from 2020 to 2021, advised by Dr. Steven Goodbred. She joined the University of Houston as Assistant Professor in 2022.

Carlson's research interests encompass geomorphology, surface hydrology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy, with a particular emphasis on deltaic systems. Her work investigates the geomorphic evolution of abandoned deltaic lobes and distributary channels, sediment transport and deposition in deltaic environments, the impacts of engineered diversions and natural avulsions on delta-lobe stability, stratigraphy atop abandoned deltaic distributary channels, and channel infilling processes on deltaic coastal plains. She has authored several peer-reviewed publications, including "Impacts of engineered diversions and natural avulsions on delta-lobe stability" (Geophysical Research Letters, 2021), "Infilling abandoned deltaic distributary channels through landward sediment transport" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2020), "Suspended-sediment induced stratification inferred from concentration and velocity profile measurements in the lower Yellow River, China" (Water Resources Research, 2020), "Basin water depth control on channel morphology and autogenic timescales in deltaic systems" (Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2018), and "Balancing aggradation and progradation on a vegetated delta: The importance of fluctuating discharge in depositional systems" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2017). Carlson has been recognized with awards such as the Outstanding Graduate Student Award (Rice University, 2020), Chair’s Award (EEPS, Rice University, 2019), Douglas and Martha Lou Broussard Fellowship (2018), Best Symposium Talk at Graduate Interdisciplinary Earth Science Symposia (2018), AGU EPSP Young Researcher Spotlight (2018), and Alison Henning Teaching Award in Earth Science (2017). Additionally, she serves as a peer reviewer for prestigious journals including Geology, Water Resources Research, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, and Geophysical Research Letters, and has presented invited lectures at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meetings and institutions like Los Alamos National Labs and the U.S. Geological Survey.