Deputy Director, U.S. Geological Survey, Dakota Water Science Center, Bismarck

Karen Ryberg, PhD, is the Deputy Director of the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) Dakota Water Science Center, Bismarck, North Dakota (with staff also located in Grand Forks and Huron and Rapid City, South Dakota). Ryberg has a B.A. in mathematics, an M.S. in statistics, and a Ph.D., from NDSU, in environmental and conservation sciences. She has spent much of her career as a research statistician. Her research interests include the effect of climate variability and change on streamflow and water quality; data mining and outlier detection; and water-quality trend analysis. Ryberg is involved in statistical education within the USGS and the greater water-resources community. She is the course coordinator and an instructor for the Statistical Methods for Environmental Data Analysis course at the USGS National Training Center and a co-author of the recent update to the text “Statistical Methods in Water Resources.” She is also involved in the recruitment of students and early career technicians and scientists.

Aaron is a Conservation Biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department focusing on incorporating aquatic species of interest into the State Wildlife Action Plan, as well as providing environmental project review. Prior to that, he worked with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ), Division of Water Quality for 17 years. Of those, 13 years were spent as an Environmental Scientist coordinating biological monitoring activities of fish, macroinvertebrates, periphyton and geomorphology on North Dakota waterbodies to assess aquatic life use attainment and IBI development, in addition to supporting the National Aquatic Resource Surveys. The last four years of his tenure with NDDEQ was spent as an Environmental Administrator for the Watershed Management Program coordinating water quality assessments, nonpoint source program activities, impaired waters listing, TMDL development and serving as Co-chair of the Water Quality Committee for the International Red River Watershed Board. Aaron is a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of Science degree in fisheries and wildlife biology.

Hydrologist, Water Appropriation Division, North Dakota Department of Water Resources

Andrew has worked for the North Dakota State Water Commission (NDSWC) for 16 years initially as a Water Resource Engineer with the NDSWC Development Division Investigations Section, and for the past 15 years as a Hydrologist with the NDSWC Water Appropriation Division. He has a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering from University of North Dakota.

Environmental Scientist, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality

Wax is an Environmental Scientist with 32 years of experience monitoring, assessing, and protecting the nations surface waters. The last 30 years have been spent in the state of North Dakota supporting multiple Sections of the Clean Water Act and the Standards of Quality for Waters of the State. A graduate of Minot State University with a B.S. in Environmental Science, Wax is proficient at designing and implementing the collection of biolog-ical, geomorphologic, and water quality data for standards compliance, special projects, pollution releases, oil extraction spills, remediation, and cleanup. The additional responsibilities of supporting Section 303 of the Clean Water Act and State Century Code through rulemaking and enforcement give Wax an uncommon skill set linking law and science to the benefit of aquatic and human communities.