Paul Work

Program Chief
PACIFIC REGION
The U.S. Geological Survey
United States Virgin Islands

Biography

Paul Work serves as the Program Chief for Estuarine Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport at the USGS California Water Science Center in Sacramento, California. In this role he oversees and conducts research on flows of water, sediment, and other water quality constituents in San Francisco and adjoining bays and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system. This work is funded by a variety of sponsors, involves a significant amount of real-time field measurements, and is motivated by a desire to maintain and improve the environmental health of the bay-estuary system and its inhabitants, while simultaneously meeting human needs for water. Dr. Work joined USGS in 2013 after 20 years as a faculty member in civil and environmental engineering programs at Georgia Tech and Clemson University. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of California - Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering from the University of Florida. He is a Professional Engineer and has served as a consultant on domestic and international port and harbor problems and development projects. He serves on the board for the Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port, and Navigation Engineers (ACOPNE).

Research Intrest

droughts floods runoff sediment transport streamflow

List of Publications
Öztürk, M.E., and Work, P.A., 2017. Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter Backscatter for Quantification of Suspended Sediment Concentration in South San Francisco Bay, USA. International conference on coastal engineering, ASCE, Istanbul, Turkey.
Work, P.A., Downing-Kunz, M.A., and Livsey, D., 2017. Record-high specific conductance and water temperature in San Francisco Bay during water year 2015: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1022, 4 p.
Schoellhamer, D.H., Manning, A.J., and Work, P.A., 2017. Erosion characteristics and horizontal variability for small erosion depths in the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta, California, USA: Ocean Dynamics.