Kelly is the Deputy Director of Science for the USGS Central Midwest Water Science Center and manages a science and research program of $14.6M and over 65 staff.
Kelly has been on the leading edge of new technology and interpretive science. She began her career as a graduate student collecting surface water data and working on an urban lake project. As digital spatial applications evolved, she developed an international study of groundwater quality in the Great Lakes basin that was supported by International Joint Commission. Kelly helped to write the groundwater and urban water component of the first biennial report on Great Lakes groundwater quality as part of international Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Kelly and colleagues presented this research to the International Association of Hydrogeologists in Rome, Italy, on the impact of urban development on water quality for US and Canada.
Kelly spent part of her career as Regional Aquifer Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program where she led a regional team of hydrologists from Maine to Washington on investigations of water quality in the glacial aquifer system. New analytical and interpretive methods were used for understanding changes in water quality across northern United States including methods of arsenic speciation and redox mapping. As a supervisor of water quality studies in Illinois, Kelly helped grow a large program using new methods for continuous monitoring of nitrate and phosphate. The network in Illinois was one of the largest in the country which led to her participation in a Congressional briefing in Washington, DC on the science and interpretive value of the new continuous nutrient sensors. Since 2017, she has been the Deputy Director of Science and leading innovative science and research on water resources in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.
Science and Products
Iowa Flood Information
Research and Investigations
The Great Flood of 1993
Completed and Archived Projects - Streamflow, Groundwater, and Lakes, CMWSC
Science and Products
- Publications
- Science
Iowa Flood Information
The USGS provides practical, unbiased information about the Nation's rivers and streams that is crucial in mitigating hazards associated with floods. This site provides information about flooding that has occurred in Iowa. Real-time information on floods in Iowa is available throught the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS). A map of Iowa gages currently at high-flow or flood conditions...Research and Investigations
The USGS Central Midwest Water Science Center (CMWSC) is comprised of water science offices in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.The MOWSC conducts research and monitoring on a wide variety of hydrologicial issues affecting steams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater in our three states and across the Nation.The Great Flood of 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 occurred from May through September along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries. Major flooding occurred across North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois resulting in over 50 deaths and billions of dollars in damages.Photo albumThe Great Flood of 1993-Recordbreaking PeaksCompleted and Archived Projects - Streamflow, Groundwater, and Lakes, CMWSC
Completed and Archived Projects - Streamflow, Groundwater, and Lakes, CMWSC - Multimedia
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government