Samantha K Oliver, PhD
Biography
Samantha Oliver received her PhD in Limnology and Freshwater Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she did continental-scale water quality research at the Center for Limnology. Prior to her Phd, she completed a Masters degree in Integrated Biosciences at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where her research focused on nutrient transport of migrating zooplankton in Lake Superior. She joined the Wisconsin Water Science Center in 2017 first as a student in the Pathways program, and then as a hydrologist. Currently, she contributes to a variety of projects across the center, including long-term trends in stream water quality in urban and agricultural watersheds of Milwaukee and Madison, the biological relevance of contaminants in Great Lakes tributaries, the effects of best management practices on runoff from farm fields (edge-of-field monitoring), and the consequences of airport deicers in surface water runoff. Samantha also spends part of her time with the Data Science branch in the Integrated Information Dissemination Division (IIDD) as an instructor for the Intro to R course and contributer to various projects including predictions of lake water temperature.
Science and Products
Inconsistent browning of northeastern U.S. lakes despite increased precipitation and recovery from acidification
Multiple studies have reported widespread browning of Northern Hemisphere lakes. Most examples are from boreal lakes that have experienced limited human influence, and browning has alternatively been attributed to changes in atmospheric deposition, climate, and land use. To determine the extent and possible causes of browning across a more...
Lapierre, Jean-Francois; Collins, Sarah M.; Oliver, Samantha; Stanley, Emily H.; Wagner, Tyler Primary sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to streambed sediment in Great Lakes tributaries using multiple lines of evidence
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most widespread and potentially toxic contaminants in Great Lakes (USA/Canada) tributaries. The sources of PAHs are numerous and diverse, and identifying the primary source(s) can be difficult. The present study used multiple lines of evidence to determine the likely sources of PAHs to...
Baldwin, Austin K.; Corsi, Steven R.; Oliver, Samantha; Lenaker, Peter L.; Nott, Michelle A.; Mills, Marc A.; Norris, Gary A.; Paatero, Pentti Process-guided deep learning predictions of lake water temperature
The rapid growth of data in water resources has created new opportunities to accelerate knowledge discovery with the use of advanced deep learning tools. Hybrid models that integrate theory with state‐of‐the art empirical techniques have the potential to improve predictions while remaining true to physical laws. This paper evaluates the Process‐...
Read, Jordan S.; Jia, Xiaowei; Willard, Jared; Appling, Alison P.; Zwart, Jacob Aaron; Oliver, Samantha; Karpatne, Anuj; Hansen, Gretchen JA; Hanson, Paul C.; Watkins, William; Steinbach, Michael; Kumar, Vipin Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world
Ice provides a range of ecosystem services—including fish harvest, cultural traditions, transportation, recreation and regulation of the hydrological cycle—to more than half of the world’s 117 million lakes. One of the earliest observed impacts of climatic warming has been the loss of freshwater ice, with corresponding climatic and ecological...
Sharma, Sapna; Blagrave, Kevin; Magnuson, John J.; O'Reilly, Catherine; Oliver, Samantha; Batt, Ryan D.; Magee, Madeline R.; Straile, Dietmar; Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A.; Winslow, Luke A.; Woolway, R. Iestyn