Adam S. Ward
 Dept. Head & Professor
Biological & Ecological Engineering
Oregon State University

Gilmore Hall 116C
124 SW 26th Street
Corvallis, OR 97331

email: [email protected]
twitter: @WardHydro
phone: 541-737-2041

Research Foci

Ward studies the transport of nutrient, pollutants, energy, and water through landscapes, and the human and ecological consequences of their storage, fluxes, and transformations. Connections between streams, their landscapes, and their aquifers ultimately  control the ecosystem functions and services that are realized. Our group uses a combination of field-based experiments, environmental observation, and numerical modeling to quantify couplings between physical, biological, and chemical systems, and apply this knowledge to predict water quantity, water quality, and ecosystem responses to changes in key drivers including land use change, land management activities, and climate change. (read more about our research projects)

Research Group News

March 2022
  • New job! Ward is announced as the new Department Head for Biological & Ecological Engineering at Oregon State University. Check out the news release here.
  • New publication! Hardware Selection and Performance of Low-Cost Fluorometers by Hixson & Ward. Check it out in Sensors here. Mega-congratulations to lead author Jase Hixson - this is the first chapter of his dissertation to be accepted. Jase presents a fluorometer design costing less than 10% of commercial units but with similar performance, in support of low-cost and open science.
  • WORLD WATER DAY. Happy World Water Day to everyone out there! Adam celebrated by being a featured presenter and panelist at the University of Birmingham's World Water Day celebration, titled Groundwater – Making the invisible visible. See the program here, including Ward's talk.

February 2022
  • New Publication! Illuminating the ‘invisible water crisis’ to address global water pollution challenges by Hannah et al. Check it out in Hydrological Processes here.
    • This opinion paper highlights emerging water quality issues, motivated by the World Bank's finding: The world faces an invisible crisis of water quality. Its impacts are wider, deeper, and more uncertain than previously thought and require urgent attention (see the World Bank pub here)
    • Check out a great summary here
  • New Publication! Organizational Principles of Hyporheic Exchange Flow and Biogeochemical Cycling in River Networks Across Scales by Krause et al. Check it out in Water Resources Research. This paper has been the subject of discussion amongst the coauthor team for nearly a decade, and formed the core of a funded project by the Leverhulme Trust to organize around multi-disciplinary, multi-scale way of conceptualizing river corridors.

January 2022
  • New Publication! COVID-19 Impacts Highlight the Need for Holistic Evaluation of Research in the Hydrologic Sciences by the CUAHSI Board of Directors & Officers. Check it out in Water Resources Research. This is an opinion piece born of discussions amongst the CUAHSI Board as we try and understand impacts of COVID on our discipline. I'm extremely proud of this effort because it helps articulate all of the ways hydrologists contribute in our diverse field, and also the range of contributions we value. A citeable reference as we write  COVID impact statements, evaluate others for promotion or tenure, and make hiring decisions.