Julie Stephenson joins Geosyntec's West Los Angeles office as Scientist. She has over four years of project experience in water and natural resources management. After earning her Bachelor's degree in geography at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, Julie assisted municipal clients with NPDES permit compliance and helped administer numerous urban runoff management programs in the bay area. She also contributed to various technical studies relating to water quality issues and gained experience evaluating the epidemiological risks associated with recreation near a wastewater treatment plant and assessing pollutant loading conditions.

Julie earned her Master's degree in geography from UC Los Angeles, where her coursework and research focused on coastal geomorphology. In particular, she participated in research related to sea-level rise and coastal dune morphology. Following the completion of her graduate studies, Julie worked as a coastal geomophologist/hydrologist in the San Francisco Bay area, where she provided technical support on wetland restoration and coastal sediment management projects in California. Julie's work during this period primarily focused on low energy coastal environments, including wetlands, tidal sloughs, and lagoons/estuaries and consisted of:

• Historical geomorphic change analysis;
• Development of sediment budgets;
• Monitoring of the development of geomorphic, hydrologic and biologic processes in immature systems;
• Projection of mature morphology and habitat distributions; and
• Assessment of coastal flooding conditions.

Julie was attracted to Geosyntec by the diversity of the company's expertise and project work. She looks forward to learning more about engineering techniques and incorporating her experience in natural processes in various planning, design and research efforts.