Sophie Rothman
Tell us about yourself:
I am in the 4th year of my PhD at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I study erosion in steep landscapes with Joel Scheingross and Scott McCoy. I started my academic career studying to be an economist (double majored in math and economics at Barnard College) and ended up in geomorphology by way of working as a business consultant, raft guide and dirtbagging. I love being outside and am happy to be in Reno, where you can run out the door and arrive in the mountains any time in the week.
What is your research about?
I am interested in river erosion and my PhD work has focused on the broader impacts of bedrock steps and waterfalls. My research has specifically looked at bedrock steps that have self-formed as bedforms in steep bedrock channels: If they form without a singular perturbation, and alter the process and rate at which a river erodes –then how do they influence river form and alter our interpretation of landscapes? I am trying to answer this question through long profile and landscape evolution modeling, field surveys, cosmogenic nuclide analysis, and remote sensing analyses.
What excites you about your research?
I really love exploring rivers. They are super complex: in how many different shapes and sizes you find, and how complicated the flow of water can be. But rivers are also very simple: just water running downhill forever. In my research I get to dig into both simplicity and complexity. On a large scale, river behavior is often well-described by simple, deterministic rules (e.g. stream power). But in my research, I get to examine where rivers break the rules and behave unexpectedly – resulting in some incredible channel morphologies and in a better understanding of the limits of our own models and assumptions.
What broader importance does your research have for society?
In my Hydrology program, many of my cohort deal with water supply and quality, so studying waterfall processes over 1000+ year time scales can feel less critical to society. But my research helps explain variability in erosion rates in steep channels, and how it impacts the landscapes around them. Erosion in steep landscapes is important to understand, for human safety and for interpreting geologic history.
What inspired you to pursue a career in Earth Science?
I had a lightbulb moment. I had been working in business consulting for a year when an acquaintance complained about their stream monitoring work and being cold and wet all day. I realized that I would much rather be miserable standing in a river than sitting in an office making a quarterly report presentation. I had started whitewater kayaking during my undergraduate years and was already spending a lot of time exploring rivers and thinking about the diversity of channel morphologies, so I thought it would be very cool to do research on river form as a career.
What are you looking to do after you complete your PhD or postdoc?
I’m trying to finish my PhD in the next year (or so), and I would like to continue doing geomorphology research. I would be excited to pursue a postdoc modeling fluid dynamic in steep rivers and submerged steps, or lateral bedrock erosion and modeling bedrock channel migration.
Given unlimited funding and access to resources, what is your dream project that you would pursue?
In my research, I often use water surface elevation as a proxy for bedrock channel elevation in construction of river profiles, etc. However, in waterfall-dominated channels, the bedrock channel has an undulating elevation profile that is not well represented by water surface elevation, and I wonder if this is true of non-waterfall channels as well. I would love to figure out how to instrument a river in order to understand what the true bedrock channel elevation is, and the depth of sediment cover above it. This would provide insight into bedrock erosion processes and heterogeneity of erosion rates along a river profile, and on hillslopes above it. It would also help us understand quantities and patterns of sediment storage in steep river systems.
What else do you do? Any hobbies or interests outside of work?
I love spending time in the mountains through whitewater kayaking, alpine scrambling, backcountry skiing or improving my poor technical climbing skills. I’m also working on unlearning my strong ducking instinct to try to play pickleball and volleyball. I also enjoy playing music, baking, and searching for the perfect croissant.