Courses

Taking the Pulse of the Watershed Seminar

Open to all, inside or outside Stanford, no registration required. 
Please signup for the Forum to receive seminar announcements and access seminar material.

Spring Quarter 2026

Wednesdays, 11:00-11:50, sometimes in person, sometimes on Zoom. 
The spring quarter will focus on surface water-groundwater interaction. 

• April 8, 2026: Sasha McLarty (Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University) : 
  An Introduction to Surface Water/Groundwater Interactions -  Forum discussion + Recording
• April 15, 2026: Becca Prentice (PhD Student, Geophysics, Stanford University) : 
  The use of the airborne electromagnetic data to assess the connectivity of river water and groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley -  Forum discussion + Recording
• April 22, 2026: Peter Vorster (Friends of the River) : in-person at Stanford
   Challenges in evaluating groundwater-surface water interactions  along the San Joaquin River and Lower Kern River
  The San Joaquin River from Friant Dam to the Merced River and the Lower Kern River through the City of Bakersfield are vital waterways for water supply, fisheries, and the residents of the San Joaquin Valley who have been deprived of healthy rivers by excess surface water diversions and groundwater extraction. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requirement to have local entities evaluate and quantify the impact of groundwater pumping on the river flows has faced numerous challenges to fulfill the SGMA requirements.
• April 29, 2026: Meredith Goebel (Research Scientist, Stanford Geophysics) 
  Pulse Data Management and the Use of Redivis
  In this seminar we will discuss what datasets will be added to Redivis, data preparation and upload guidelines, data permission and privacy protocols, and data provenance and citation practices.
• May 6, 2026: Rishudh Thakur (PhD Student, Geophysics, Stanford University) :  Forum Discussion + Recording
  Fiber-Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing for Interconnected Surface Water Identification under SGMA: A Case Study on the Tuolumne River
  This talk presents a field-scale application of Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS) as a practical tool to improve interconnected surface water (ISW) identification. FO-DTS enables continuous temperature measurement at sub-meter spatial resolution along a fiber-optic cable placed on the streambed, over distances of several kilometers.
• May 13, 2026: Sylvia Zhang (MS Student, Geophysics, Stanford University) : Forum Discussion + Recording
  Using InSAR data to observe confined-aquifer recharge in the San Joaquin Valley
  Confined aquifers are the most vulnerable to deformation caused by groundwater overdraft, which leads to land subsidence and reduced groundwater storage capacity. In this seminar, I will present on how data derived from satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) measurements can reveal locations where the confined aquifer is recharged. I will also show how airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data can be used to identify recharge pathways consistent with the InSAR data, and how these pathways imply a connectivity between surface water, unconfined aquifers, and the confined aquifers that is essential to consider for sustainable groundwater management.
• May 20, 2026: Fatima Alhosani (PhD Student, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University)
  Sustainable LIDAR for stream gauges 
  Doppler LiDAR system for remotely measuring stream flow velocity, water depth, and water level as a non-contact alternative to traditional in-situ gauges.
• May 27, 2026: Steve Rosier (Sierra Hydrographics): in-person at Stanford
• June 3, 2026: Kamini Singha (Professor, Colorado School of Mines) : Forum Discussion + Recording
  "One Bank Account, Two Straws: Navigating Surface-Groundwater Connection" - 
  Physical and legal integration of surface water and groundwater, examining how we can manage them as a single resource and the measurements we use to quantify exchanges.

Winter Quarter 2026

• January 14, 2026: Pulling together water level measurements in the San Joaquin Valley: A Discussion (Rosemary Knight)
• January 21, 2026: Water levels - What data to use and how to assign measurements to unconfined/confined aquifers (Joe Janssen)
• January 28, 2026: Water levels - How to interpolate in time/space between sparse data? (Mandy Lu)
• February 4, 2026:  Water levels - How to interpolate in time/space between sparse data? (Joe Janssen)
• February 11, 2026: An overview of groundwater models (Jonathan Mells and Meredith Goebel)
• February 18, 2026: C2VSIM, DWR’s Hydrologic Model (Craig Altare, California Department of Water Resources)
• February 25, 2026: Finding our fit - what model(s) should(n't) we use in the Digital Twin? (Sasha McLarty)
• March 4, 2026: Trends and Vulnerabilities in Eastern Washington’s Groundwater (Sasha McLarty)
• March 11, 2026: Catch up on the quarter, planning for the next  (Rosemary Knight)

Fall Quarter 2025 - Stanford Geophysics seminar (GEOPHYS 385B): 

Environmental Geophysics - Taking the Pulse of the Watershed
Wednesdays 11:00 - 11:50 am in Mitchell 350/372 or on Zoom

• September 24, 2025: Introduction to the Project (Rosemary Knight) 
  Link to recording. Passcode: jb27R*0.
• October 1, 2025: Geophysical Imaging of the Groundwater System of the Kaweah Subbasin (Rosemary Knight and Jonny Mells)
  Link to recording. Passcode: tv9!7W6*
• October 8, 2025: Cancelled
• October 15: SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) 101 – A quick run through of the basics and 10 years of implementation (Tim Godwin and Steven Springhorn, California Department of Water Resources) DWR and SGMA Useful Links
  Link to recording. Passcode: tRj&4BMQ
• October 22:  Introduction to data curation and analysis on Redivis (Ian Mathews, Redivis)
  Link to recording. Passcode: $9JA^ubv
  Taking the Pulse organization on Redivis: Link
  Ian’s slideshow (Redivis introduction and demo): Link
• October 29: The Data that is Driving the SGMA World (Aaron Fukuda, Tulare Irrigation District)
  Link to recording. Passcode: XYpB1L&t
• November 5: Kaweah Subbasin - “Connections Between Groundwater and Surface Water” under SGMA (Kaitlin Palys and Abhishek Singh, Intera; Jim VandeWater and Ben Lewis, Thomas Harder & Co.; Matt Klinchuch, Provost & Pritchard)
  Link to recording. Passcode: QXh55.E%
• November 12: Modernizing Water Accounting for California (Annalise Blum, Letitia Grenier, and Jeffrey Mount, PPIC)
  Link to recording. Passcode: YeR7b=&4
• November 19: Assessing Multi Decadal Groundwater Levels in Confined and Unconfined Aquifers of the San Joaquin Valley (Susmita Pant)
  Link to recording. Passcode: h#Ed2KB?
• November 26: Cancelled - Thanksgiving
• December 3: Pieces of Pulse - Big Picture Framing of What We're Doing and Why (Sasha McLarty)
  Link to recording. Passcode: 8ha#2io+

Way Through the Ways

For undergraduates, wanting to fulfill your Ways requirements, we have compiled a set of courses, related to Taking the pulse of the planet.  

Taking the Pulse of the Planet - from sensors to solutions
2025-26 Academic Year
Autumn Quarter

Winter Quarter

Spring Quarter

Autumn 24-25 Courses
Find your way through the Ways PDF