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Joseph J Kennedy

Joseph Kennedy is a hydrologist at the USGS Oregon Water Science Center.

Joseph Kennedy initially started working for the USGS at the Pacific Islands Water Science Center in 2016 immediately after receiving his M.S. degree from the Department of Geology and Geophysics (now Earth Sciences) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His graduate research was the first to use small unmanned aerial vehicles to collect time-series thermal imagery of coastal groundwater discharge tidal dynamics. The time-series imagery was coupled with simultaneous geochemical tracer analysis to determine groundwater discharge rates and nutrient flux to the coastal zones of Maui. In February of 2020 he transferred to the Oregon Water Science Center to expand his experience as a hydrologist. His research investigations range from storm-water sampling for pesticide prevalence, to quantifying the impacts of non-native plant species on freshwater availability in Hawaiʻi, to using computer programming for analyzing a variety of groundwater, surface water, climate, and remote sensing datasets to assess water-resource issues.