SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
Sandra Rocío
VILLAMIZAR AMAYA
Academic Coordinator - School of Civil Engineering
Director of GED
Research Group
CONTACT
Information
srvillam@uis.edu.co
+57 (607) 634 4000
Extension: 1300
GENERAL
Biography
Professor Sandra Rocío Villamizar Amaya is interested in studying the impact of land use and water management practices on river ecosystems and in understanding the different responses of streams and rivers to natural and anthropogenic elements. During her graduate school period, she looked at whole-stream metabolism (WSM) used as an indicator of river health. This approach allowed her to identify interesting temporal and spatial distributions of WSM estimates in response to natural and anthropogenic drivers (see for example, Villamizar et al., 2013). Related to this, she worked with Dr. Thomas C. Harmon and Dr. Henry Pai on using high resolution synoptic field studies to identify interactions between groundwater and surface water and the implications in terms of contributions of non-point source pollution from agroindustrial activities to the river (see Pai et al., 2015).
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At Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Colombia, she collaborated with Dr. Sergio Pineda (faculty member at UPB) and wonderful students in the analysis of water yield under historical and future climate change scenarios within a strategic watershed (Tona) which provides water supply to the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga. This study was quite exciting as it allowed them to interact with the different institutional stakeholders of the watershed and provide recommendations and motivation for more work to be developed in the watershed (see Villamizar et al., 2019).
More recently, Professor Villamizar had the opportunity to work in Mediterranean mountain forested streams of the US west coast (Oregon) through a postdoctoral position at Oregon State University. She was fortunate to work with Dr. Catalina Segura and Dr. Dana R. Warren in developing alternate strategies to assess stream ecosystem productivity in these highly complex ecosystems in response to seasonal dynamics and flow events. They are currently completing a manuscript that they hope can be useful for many scientists.
She started working for the School of Civil Engineering at Universidad Industrial de Santander in October 2020. She looks forward to meeting great scientists and students to continue evolving in the understanding of tropical mountain streams.
EDUCATION AND
Qualifications
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Ph.D. in Environmental Systems
University of California, 2013
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M.Sc. in Environmental Systems
University of California, 2007
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Civil Engineer
Universidad Industrial de Santander, 2001
Academic Coordinator - School of Civil Engineering
Director of
GED Research Group
CONTACT
Information
srvillam@uis.edu.co
+57 (607) 634 4000
Extension: 1300
AREAS OF
Expertise
Studies of water resources in watersheds in natural and anthropic contexts.
OFFICE
Hours
Monday to friday
7:00 a.m. – 12 m.
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
UIS Campus Central, Edificio de Laboratorio de Pesados, Oficina 125
Outstanding
Works
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Toward the Geoscience Paper of the Future: Best practices for documenting and sharing research from data to software to provenance
Article, Earth and Space Science, 2016
AWARDS AND
Recognitions
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Fulbright Fellow
Colciencias, 2005