CV

Education

• Ph.D in Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR (expected 2025)
• M.S. in Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 2021
• B.A., Bowdoin College, 2011

Honors and Grants

• NASA Future Investigator in Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST)
  • Fully funded PhD improving our capacity to observe changes to surface water from spaceborne instruments.
• AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award – Biogeosciences Division
• AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award – Hydrology Division
• Graduate Student Research Grant, Geological Society of America
  • Recognition and financial support for a field campaign to Alaska validating satellite observations.
• Rippey Award (x2), University of Oregon Department of Geography
  • Support for fieldwork on the Sandy River in 2020.
  • Support for computing costs in 2023.
• Riley Research Award, Bowdoin College Department of Anthropology
  • $2,094 towards reserach on the boat building industry’s adaptations in Maine.
• Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholar
  • Recognition designated for students ranking iwthin the top 20% of their undergraduate class.
• Total Funding Awarded: $156,394.00

Professional Experience

• NASA Graduate Student Fellow, University of Oregon (2023-Present)
• Graduate Research Assistant, University of Oregon (2021-2023)
• Instructor, Rios to Rivers Paddle Tribal Waters Program, Klamath River Basin (2024)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Oregon (2019-2021)\
• Math and Science Teacher, The Sage School, Hailey, ID (2016-2019)
• Mathematics Teaching Fellow, Maine Coast Semester, Wiscasset, ME (2015-2016)
• Whitewater Kayaking Coach, Jackson Hole Kayak Club (2019)
• Trip Leader, Overland Summers, Alaska, Switzerland, Colorado, New England (2013-2016)

Publications

• Levenson. E.S., S.W. Cooley, A. Mullen, E.E. Webb, J.D. Watts. (2025). Glacial history modifies permafrost controls on the distribution of lakes and ponds. Geophysical Research Letters.
• Levenson. E.S., S.W. Cooley (in prep). The timing and magnitude of pan-Arctic lake variability.
• Pletcher, A., S.W. Cooley, E.S. Levenson (submitted). Observing fine-scale lake ice breakup dynamics in the Lower Kuskokwim River Basin, Alaska.
• Levenson. E.S. (in prep). Improving satellite-based water storage estimates through integrated SWOT and Sentinel-2 water mapping.
• Mullen. A., J. D. Watts, B. M. Rogers M. L. Carroll, C.D. Elder, J. Noomah, Z. Williams, A. Bredder, E. Rickenbaugh, J. A. Caraballo-Vega, E.S Levenson, S.W. Cooley, S. Potter, Y. Yang, G. Fiske, C.E. Miller, S.M. Natali , T.A Douglas, E.D Kyzivat. (2023). Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and Deep Learning to Track Dynamic Seasonality in Small Water Bodies. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(7).
• Levenson, E.S., and Fonstad M.A. (2022). Characterizing coarse sediment grain size variability along the upper Sandy River, Oregon, via UAV remote sensing, Geomorphology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108447
• Chafe, O. E., Broz, A. P., Levenson, E. S., Farinacci, M. D., Anderson, R. O., & Silva, L. C. (2024). The spatiotemporal domains of natural climate solutions research and strategies for implementation in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Frontiers in Climate, 6, 1273632.

Presentations

• Levenson, E.S., S.W. Cooley, A. Mullen, E. Webb, J. Watts. Glacial History Modifies Permafrost Controls on the Distribution of Arctic-Boreal Lakes and Ponds. AGU Fall meeting. Oral Presentation. 2024.
• Levenson, E.S., S.W. Cooley. The Timing and Magnitude of Pan-Arctic Seasonal Lake Area fluctuations from 2016-2021. AGU Fall meeting. Poster Presentation. 2024.
• Levenson, E.S., Cooley, S.W., Mullen, A., Van Dusen, I., Analyzing local to regional scale patterns in surface water variability and their interaction with permafrost using a new high resolution Alaska lake database, AGU Fall meeting, Poster Presentation. 2023.
• Levenson, E.S., Cooley, S.W., Mullen, A., Lake distribution and dynamics in the Alaskan Arctic from 2016-2021, AGU Fall meeting, Poster Presentation. 2022.
• Cooley, S.W., Levenson, E.S., Leveraging novel satellite technologies to better understand permafrost-surface water feedbacks. Invited Oral Presentation. 2022.
• Van Dusen, I., Cooley, S.W., Levenson, E.S., Assessing the Accuracy of Planet and Sentinel-2 Derived Water Maps through in situ GNSS Validation. Oral Presentation. 2022.
• Levenson, E.S. Remotely sensed grain-size distributions at high resolutions and across large extents reveals that bar-scale position modulates grain-size response to channel width within the upper Sandy River, Oregon. AGU Fall meeting. Oral Presentation. 2021.
• Levenson, E.S. Hyperscale sediment grain-size mapping and sorting in relation to channel morphology. American Association of Geographers. Poster Presentation. 2021.
• Levenson, E.S. Methodological approaches to fluvial grain-size remote sensing. Bretz Club Mini-Conference. 2021.

Invited Seminars

AGU Biogeosciences Early Career Seminar, “Glacial History Modifies Permafrost Controls on the Distribution of Lakes and Ponds” USGS Water Mission Area, “Mapping Alaska’s Lakes and Ponds and Their Permafrost Interactions” Alaska Geospatial Council “Hydrography Working Group, The Alaska Lake and Pond Occurrence Dataset, and novel SWOT applications for the future of Alaska Hydrology”

Service and leadership

• SWOT River Science Working Group
• Graduate Representative to the UO Geography Diversity Committee (2022-2023)
• President, UO Chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Senssing (2022-2024)
• Wilderness First Responder
• Swift Water Rescue
• AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Safety