Jason Pollender, Supervisory Hydrologic Technician, MA-RI SW/GW Networks Section

Jason was born and raised in western Massachusetts and is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, (Environmental Science). He enjoys spending time with family in the outdoors fishing, camping, and hiking when not attending sporting events with kids. Jason started with the USGS in 2001 after spending a few years working in the private sector. Originally hired in the Orlando office, Jason quickly transferred to the East Hartford office. He worked for about 13 years, as a Hydrologic Technician eventually specializing in surface water and hydro-acoustics. He then transferred to the Houston office for a new adventure as a Data Chief in an office with a significant surface water and data program. After arriving in Texas, he was immediately bombarded with more than 3 consecutive years of major and catastrophic flooding in the East Texas area, and was quickly educated in crisis management.  Jason is very excited to be joining the MA-RI Networks team and is also excited to be returning to his home State of Massachusetts, where much of his family still resides.

Rachel Sheppard, Hydrologic Technician, Water Quality Networks Section

Rachel was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved to the Boston area during high school and stayed through college. She originally studied political science and worked in arts administration but went back to school for her passion in conservation. She received her second bachelor’s in environmental science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, with a focus in water quality. After, she spent 4 years working seasonal positions with the National Park Service. Her first position was a research internship at the Cape Cod National Seashore, where she worked on the Herring River restoration project and among others. Following that, she worked at the Boston Harbor Islands for a season, then Yellowstone National Park for two. She performed a wide range of work, including botanical surveys, invasive plant management, public outreach, fire effects surveys, wildland firefighting, and wetland delineations. Despite her continuing love of plants, she recently went back to her original interest in water science. In April this year, she joined the USGS as a Hydrologic Technician at the Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center in Tallahassee, where she mainly focused on surface water. She comes to Connecticut happy to be back in New England and thrilled to be focusing on water quality once again. In her spare time, she enjoys a mix of outdoor nature activities and indoor artistic activities. She also loves cats.