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Research Statement

Scotty has been performing scientific research within the Great Basin since 2002, primary as part of the DendroLab under Dr. Franco Biondi (www.dendrolab.org). He has extensive experience in tree-ring chronology development, having sampled and crossdated over forty long-lived tree-ring sites within the western United States. He has participated in multiple archaeological, climate reconstruction, water supply, and ecological disturbance projects. In addition to development of multiple millennial-length, climatically-sensitive tree-ring records, Scotty has sampled and dated the oldest known Pinus monophylla (Singleleaf Pinyon Pine) and Pinus jefferyi (Jeffery Pine). His experience in Geographic Information Systems and Cartography has allowed him to communicate his research effectively as well as leverage spatial analysis tools to address science questions across landscapes. In addition to research within Geography, Scotty also has experience as a GIS coordinator for other geosciences fieldwork projects and served as a logistics/operations manager for a helicopter drilling program in western Alaska during the 2006 field season. Scotty's extensive travels within his home state of Nevada have allowed him to identify many potential research questions related to climate and water supply, several of which he is currently pursuing. He is presently involved in an NSF-EPSCoR project entitled "Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Science, Education, and Outreach", an interdisciplinary endeavor funded for a total of $15 million over five years, where he is helping to manage installation of instrumental transects over two Great Basin mountain ranges.

Research Areas of Interest

Dendrochronology, Great Basin hydroclimate, Climate-forest interactions, Geographic Information Science, Environmental monitoring, Dendroarchaeology

Professional Preparation

A.A., Western Nevada Community College, 1997 (3.85/4.0)
B.S., University of Nevada, Reno, Geography, Minor: Economics, 2001(3.95/4.0)
M.S., University of Nevada, Reno, Geography, 2011(4.0/4.0)

Selected Publications

(accepted) Biondi, F. , and S. Strachan. Dendrohydrology in 2050: Challenges and Opportunities. In: W. Grayman, P. Loucks, and L. Saito (editors), Water and Environmental Resources Vision 2050, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

(in press) Strachan, S., F. Biondi, and J. Leising. A 550-year reconstruction of streamflow variability in Spring Valley, Nevada, USA. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. DOI: 10.1061(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000180

2011 Biondi, F. , L. Jamieson, S. Strachan, and J. Sibold. Dendroecological testing of the pyroclimatic hypothesis in the central Great Basin, Nevada, USA. Ecosphere 2(1): art5 (20 pages). DOI:10.1890/ES10-00068.1**

2011 Strachan, S., B. Bird, B. Lyles, G. McCurdy, and M. McMahon. Building Climate Monitoring Infrastructure in Nevada: Integration of field science and cyberinfrastructure along high elevational transects. Session 5330: "The Generation and Use of Climate Data Records," Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle.

2010 Strachan, S., F. Biondi, and J. Leising. A 500-year reconstruction of streamflow variability in Spring Valley, Nevada, USA, and a look at the future of watershed-scale dendrohydrology. Abstract A31D-0078 presented at 2010 Fall Meeting, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco.

2009 Saito, L.S., F. Biondi , J. Salas, and S. Strachan. Combining a water balance model for streamflow simulations with long tree-ring records to improve estimation of water resources variability. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union , 90(52) Fall Meeting Supplement, San Francisco, California. Abstract H23I-05.

2009 Strachan, S. and F. Biondi. Precise Dating of Comstock-Era Charcoal Ovens in the Great Basin: A Dendrochronological Perspective. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Paper Session on "Climate, Wildfire, and Woodland Dynamics in the Great Basin of North America - II", Las Vegas, Nevada.

2007 Biondi, F., S. Strachan, S.A. Mensing, and G. Piovesan. Radiocarbon analysis confirms the annual nature of sagebrush growth rings. Radiocarbon 49(3): 1232-1240.

2006 Strachan, S., F. Biondi, and J. Kleppe. Tree-Ring Dating of Submerged Trees in Fallen Leaf Lake, California. Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.

2003 Biondi, F. and S. Strachan. Tree-Ring Dating of Truckee Charcoal Ovens. Final Report. Department of Geography, University of Nevada, Reno.