Dr. Christopher Wellen (PI)

Dr. Wellen is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Ryerson University. Chris is an environmental scientist whose work focuses on the intersection of hydrology and biogeochemistry in human dominated environments. His work has focused on agricultural, urban, and surface mined areas, but the essential questions are typically: How do natural processes and human modifications to a watershed interact to transport water and materials? What are the effects on instream and downstream ecosystems, and how are these effects likely to change in the future?

Dr. Wellen received a PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013 focusing on comparing the phosphorus export dynamics of urban and agricultural watersheds. His postdoctoral work at McMaster University focused on the role of surface mining in affecting selenium release from watersheds. His subsequent postdoctoral work at the University of Waterloo focused on improving the numerical analysis of watershed data from agricultural systems. Dr. Wellen received an MSc in GIScience from McGill University and a BSc in Water Environments and Ecosystems from McGill University’s School of the Environment.
Lab Alumni

​​Alexander Pardy
Masters of Spatial Analysis

Mallory Carpenter
Masters of Spatial Analysis

​Sohom Mandal (PhD, EIT)
​Post-Doctoral Fellow
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Sohom is a post-doctoral fellow, working from September 2018. He is leading a regional watershed modelling project focused on agricultural land in Southern Ontario. He is investigating relationships between land-use, features of the landscape and nutrient concentration. He received PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Western Ontario. He has expertise in climate change impact assessment, watershed modeling, and water quality modeling.​
​Bhaswati Mazumder
PhD Student
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​Bhaswati joined the team after completing MSA at Ryerson. Her research focuses on chloride pathways in watersheds due to road salt applications. Current research interests include legacy chloride due to long term road salting in urban and urbanizing catchments, chloride retention in soil, and water quality modelling.
​Larissa Gospodyn
Masters Student
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​Larissa joined the lab in May, 2018 as a research assistant, before beginning her MASc degree in the following fall. Larissa's research focuses on nutrient flow pathways in agricultural landscapes. Using isotopes as tracers to infer flow pathways, she hopes to examine whether dominant nutrient pathways can be determined.
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Hannah Burdett
Masters Student
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​Hannah joined the lab in May, 2018 as a research assistant, before beginning her MSA degree in the following fall. Hannah's research focuses on modelling precision agriculture and soil nutrient levels properties through machine learning and spatial analysis.
Jung Lee
Research Technician 
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Jung's work focuses largely on supporting the development of a regional scale hydrological and water quality model of the agricultural portions of Southern Ontario.