Bruce MacVicar

Bruce MacVicar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is affiliated with ASCE: Environmental & Water Resources Engineering, CWRA and River Restoration Northwest.

His research interests lie in river engineering, understanding the effect of urbanisation on sediment transport, studying the hydrodynamics of straight pools, and quantifying wood transport in rivers.

Professor MacVicar conducts research on hydraulic engineering and fluvial geomorphology, while placing a particular emphasis on river dynamics. His research uses field measurements, physical experiments and computer simulations to understand various aspects of river processes such as sediment transport and flow turbulence. He ultimately aims to improve engineering designs, protect and restore critical habitats in rivers and floodplains, and preserve the integrity of these complex systems.

In addition to his research work, Professor MacVicar recruits graduate students for a field and GIS project in Toronto, where their potential funding is available through an NSERC IPS grant with an excellent mid-size firm specializing in river geomorphology and restoration. He also recruited graduate students for a laboratory-based project on sediment transport over complex boundaries using a new experimental channel that was constructed in 2012. Professor MacVicar has published several journals, and has also taken part in numerous global conference presentations.

• Rivers
• Sediment Transport
• Turbulence
• Floods
• Complex Systems
• Wood Jams
• Pool-riffle Bedforms
• Stream Restoration
• Natural Channel Design
• Eco-hydraulics
• Connectivity And Internet Of Things
• River Engineering
• Fluvial Geomorphology
• Urban Stormwater Management
• Maintenance Of Critical Habitats In Rivers

• 2006, Doctorate, Fluvial Geomorphology, University of Michigan
• 1999, Master of Applied Science, Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia
• 1996, Bachelor of Applied Science, Water Resources Engineering, University of Guelph

• CIVE 381 - Hydraulics
• CIVE 682 - Free Surface Hydraulics
• ENVE 214 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences
• GEOE 498 - Seminar
• ENVE 498 - Seminar
• CIVE 382 - Hydrology and Open Channel Flow

• MacVicar, BJ, Good, bad and the ugly: Seasonal filtering and Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) models for detecting and replacing spikes in velocimetric profile data, River Flow 2016: Iowa City, USA, July 11-14, 2016, 2016
• MacVicar, Bruce and Obach, Lana, Shear Stress and Hydrodynamic Recovery over Bedforms of Different Lengths in a Straight Channel, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 141(11), 2015
• MacVicar, Bruce and Chapuis, Margot and Buckrell, Emma and Roy, André, Assessing the Performance of In-Stream Restoration Projects Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Transponders, Water, 7(10), 2015, 5566 - 5591
• MacVicar, Bruce and Dilling, Scott and Lacey, Jay, Multi-instrument turbulence toolbox (MITT): Open-source MATLAB algorithms for the analysis of high-frequency flow velocity time series datasets, Computers & Geosciences, 73, 2014, 88 - 98
• Chapuis, Margot and Bright, Christina J and Hufnagel, John and MacVicar, Bruce, Detection ranges and uncertainty of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders for sediment tracking in gravel rivers and coastal environments, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 39(15), 2014, 2109 - 2120
• MacVicar, Bruce and Best, Jim, A flume experiment on the effect of channel width on the perturbation and recovery of flow in straight pools and riffles with smooth boundaries, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 118(3), 2013, 1850 - 1863
• MacVicar, Bruce J and Obach, Lana and Best, James L, Large-scale coherent flow structures in alluvial pools, Coherent flow structures at earth’s surface. Wiley, Chichester, 2013, 243 - 259
• MacVicar, Bruce, Local head loss coefficients of riffle pools in gravel-bed rivers, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 139(11), 2013, 1193 - 1198
• MacVicar, B.J. (in review) Local head loss coefficients of riffle-pools in gravel bed rivers, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, HYENG-8200, submitted July 2012, revised Jan 2013. (Submitted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B. J., and H. Piégay (2012), Implementation and validation of video monitoring for wood budgeting in a wandering piedmont river, the Ain River (France), Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 37(12), 1272-1289, doi: 10.1002/esp3240. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B. J., and C. D. Rennie (2012), Flow and turbulence redistribution in a straight artificial pool, Water Resources Research, 48(2), W02503, doi: 10.1029/2010wr009374. (Accepted in 2011)
• MacVicar, B.J., and A.G. Roy (2011), Sediment mobility in a forced riffle-pool, Geomorphology, 125, 445-456, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.10.031. (Accepted in 2010)
• MacVicar, Bruce J and Rennie, Colin D and Roy, André G, Discussion of “Unifying criterion for the velocity reversal hypothesis in gravel-bed rivers” by D. Caamaño, P. Goodwin, JM Buffington, JCP Liou, and S. Daley-Laursen, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 136(8), 2010, 550 - 552
• MacVicar, BJ, Interactive comment on “A flume experiment on the effect of constriction shape on the formation of forced pools” by DM Thompson and CR McCarrick, , 2010
• Lamarre, H., G. Marquis, A.G. Roy, T. Buffin-Bélanger, J. Lacey, B.J. MacVicar, J. Thérien, (in revision) Channel bed adjustments following a major debris flow in a mountain stream, Geomorphology, GEOMOR-2142, submitted June 2010. (Submitted in 2010)
• MacVicar, B. J., C.D. Rennie, and A.G. Roy (2010), Discussion of "Unifying criterion for the velocity reversal hypothesis in gravel-bed rivers" by D. Caamano, J. M. Buffington, J. C.P. Liou, and S. Daley-Laursen, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 136, 550-552, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000120. (Accepted in 2009)
• MacVicar, BJ and Piégay, Hervé and Henderson, A and Comiti, F and Oberlin, C and Pecorari, E, Quantifying the temporal dynamics of wood in large rivers: field trials of wood surveying, dating, tracking, and monitoring techniques, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34(15), 2009, 2031 - 2046
• MacVicar, B.J., H. Piegay, A. Anderson, C. Oberlin, F. Comiti, and E. Pecorari (2009), Quantifying the temporal dynamics of wood in large rivers: new techniques for wood tracking, monitoring, surveying, and dating, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34, 2031-2046, DOI: 10.1002/esp.1888. (Accepted in 2009)
• Rollet, Anne Julia and Macvicar, Bruce and Piegay, Herve and Roy, Andre, L’utilisation de transpondeurs passifs pour l’estimation du transport sédimentaire: premiers retours d’expérience, La Houille Blanche(4), 2008, 110 - 116
• Rollet, A. J., B.J. MacVicar, H. Piegay, A. Roy (2008), A comparative study on the use of Passive Integrated Transponders to estimate sediment transport : first results, La Houille Blanche, 4, 87-93. (Accepted in 2008)
• Rollet, Anne Julia and Macvicar, Bruce and Piegav, Herve and Roy, Andre, A comparative study on the use of Passive Integrated Transponders to estimate sediment transport: first results, HOUILLE BLANCHE-REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE L EAU(4), 2008, 110 - 116
• MacVicar, BJ and Beaulieu, E and Champagne, V and Roy, AG, Measuring water velocity in highly turbulent flows: field tests of an electromagnetic current meter (ECM) and an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV), Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32(9), 2007, 1412 - 1432
• MacVicar, B.J., and A. G. Roy (2007), Hydrodynamics of a forced riffle pool in a gravel bed river: 2. Scale and structure of coherent turbulent events, Water Resources Research, 43, W12402, doi:10.1029/2006WR005274. (Accepted in 2007)
• MacVicar, B.J., and A. G. Roy (2007), Hydrodynamics of a forced riffle pool in a gravel bed river: 1. Mean velocity and turbulence intensity, Water Resources Research, 43, W12401, doi:10.1029/2006WR005272. (Accepted in 2007)
• MacVicar, B.J., E. Beaulieu, V. Champagne, and A.G. Roy (2007), Measuring water velocity in highly turbulent flows: Field tests of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) and an Electromagnetic Current Meter (ECM), Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32, 1412-1432, doi:10.1002/esp.1497. (Accepted in 2007)
• MacVicar, BJ and Parrott, L and Roy, AG, A two-dimensional discrete particle model of gravel bed river systems, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 111, 2006
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Parrott, and A.G. Roy (2006), A 2-D discrete particle model of gravel-bed river systems, Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 111, F03009, doi:10.1029/2005JF000316. (Accepted in 2006)
• D.H. de Boer K., M.A. Hassan, B.J. MacVicar, and M. Stone (2005), Recent (1999-2003) Canadian research on contemporary processes of river erosion and sedimentation, and river mechanics, Hydrological Processes, 19, 265-283. (Accepted in 2005)
• De Boer, DH and Hassan, MA and MacVicar, B and Stone, M, Recent (1999--2003) Canadian research on contemporary processes of river erosion and sedimentation, and river mechanics, Hydrological processes, 19(1), 2005, 265 - 283
• Lamarre, H., B.J. MacVicar, and A.G. Roy (2005), Using passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags to investigate sediment transport in gravel-bed rivers, Journal of Sedimentary Research, 75, 736-741, doi: 10.2110/jsr.2005.059. (Accepted in 2005)
• MacVicar, B and Llinas, R, Calcium spikes in regenerating giant axons of the lamprey spinal cord, Soc. Neurosci. Abst, 12, 1982
• ROLLET, ANNE JULIA and MACVICAR, BRUCE and PIEGAY, HERVE and ROY, ANDRE, Transports solides et gestion des sédiments en milieux naturels et urbains,
• Piegay, H and Lemaire, P and MacVicar, B and Mouquet-Noppe, C and Tougne, L, Automatically monitoring driftwood in large rivers: preliminary results, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, January 2014
• MacVicar, BJ and Dilling, Scott and Lacey, RWJ and Hipel, Keith, A quality analysis of the Vectrino II instrument using a new open-source MATLAB toolbox and 2D ARMA models to detect and replace spikes, River Flow, January 2014, 1951 - 1959
• Chapuis, Margot and Bevan, Vernon and Macvicar, Bruce and Roy, André, Sediment transport and morphodynamics in an urbanized river: the effect of restoration on sediment fluxes, River Flow 2014 International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, January 2014, 2119 - 2126
• Chapuis, Margot and Dufour, Simon and Macvicar, Bruce and Roy, André and Couvert, Bernard, Sediment transport and morphodynamics of two dynamic and highly modified rivers: valley management issues and keys for river stakeholders, 8th International Conference on Geomorphology, January 2013
• Pasternack, GB and MacVicar, BJ, Gold-standard performance for 2D hydrodynamic modeling, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, January 2013
• MacVicar, B.J. and H. Piégay (2012), Validation of video monitoring technique to measure wood transport in a river, Riverflow - International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics,, Costa Rica. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Obach, S. Kara, T. Stoesser, and J. Best (2011), Shear flow in a mildly sloped riffle-pool sequence, 7th International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena (TSFP-7), Ottawa ON. (Accepted in 2011)
• MacVicar, Bruce and Obach, Lana and Kara, Sibel and Stoesser, Thorsten and Best, Jim, SHEAR FLOW IN A MILDLY SLOPING RIFFLE-POOL SEQUENCE, TSFP DIGITAL LIBRARY ONLINE, January 2011
• Stoesser, T and Kara, S and MacVicar, Bruce and Best, JL, Turbulent Flow over a mildly sloped pool-riffle sequence, Proceedings of the IAHR River Flow 2010 Conference, Bundesanstalt fuer Wasserbau, January 2010, 409 - 417
• Stoesser, T., B.J. MacVicar and J. Best (2010), Turbulence Structures over a mildly sloped pool-riffle sequence, Riverflow - International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, Braunschweig, Germany. (Accepted in 2009)
• MacVicar, B.J., and C.D. Rennie (2009), Lateral distribution of turbulence and secondary currents in non-uniform open channel flow, International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research 33rd Congress, Vancouver, Canada (Accepted in 2009)
• MacVicar, B.J., and A. Roy (2007), A field experiment to remove the forcing element from a riffle-pool (poster), International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research 32nd Congress, Venice, Italy. (Accepted in 2007)
• MacVicar, B.J., and A. Roy (2005): The interaction of velocity, turbulence, and form in pool-riffle sequences (poster), Gravel-Bed Rivers VI, Lienz, Austria. (Accepted in 2005)
• Millar, R.G., and B.J. MacVicar (1998): An analytical method for natural channel design Proceedings, Wetlands Engineering and River Restoration Conference: American Society of Civil Engineering, Denver U.S.A., 379-385. (Accepted in 1998)
• MacVicar, B.J., and R.G. Millar (1998): Abilities, limits and potential in stream restoration. Proceedings, Mountains to Sea: Canadian Water Resource Association 54th Annual Conference; Y. Alila (Ed.), Victoria, 294-299. (Accepted in 1998)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Obach, and J. Best (in press), Large-scale turbulent flow structures in alluvial pools, Coherent Flow Structures in Geophysical Flows at Earth's Surface, Wiley-Blackwell. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B.J. (2012), Secondary flows in rivers: The effect of complex geometry, in Gravel Bed Rivers: processes, tools, environments, edited by M. Church, P. Biron, and A.G. Roy, Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 23-30. ISBN 978-0-470-68890-8. (Accepted in 2011)
• MacVicar, B. J., A. Hauet, N. E. Bergeron, L. Tougne, and I. Ali (2012), River monitoring with ground-based videography, in Fluvial Remote Sensing for Science and Management, edited by P. Carbonneau and H. Piégay, Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 367-383. (Accepted in 2011)
• MacVicar, Bruce J, On turbulence and the formation of riffle-pools in gravel-bed rivers,
• MacVicar, B.J. (2003), My First Matlab Workbook, University of Montreal, 49 pp. (Submitted in 2003)
• Secondary flows in rivers: The effect of complex geometry, Gravel Bed Rivers VII, Tadoussac, Quebec, September 5, 2010.
• Complexity and River Engineering, University of Waterloo, November 27, 2009.
• Non-uniform hydrodynamics and the maintenance of riffle-pool bedforms, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 12, 2009.
• Wood in Rivers: Where does it come from? Where does it go?, University of Ottawa, February 27, 2008.
• Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of wood in rivers, Regional Director of the environment (DIREN) Rhone-Alps, October 19, 2007.
• Complexity and Non-uniform flow in river dynamics, University of Ottawa, November 9, 2006.
• MacVicar, B.J. (2012), Eco-hydraulics research at UW: Understanding the mechanics of natural and unnatural rivers, Internal Seminar Series, Eco-hydrology Research Group.
• Bright, C., and B.J. MacVicar (2012), Getting the most out of RFID technology for bed-load transport monitoring: sandbox experiments and an improved field method, CWRA/CGU Annual General Meeting, Banff, AB. (Accepted in 2012)
• Piégay H., Alber A., Arnaud F., Béal D., Boivin M., Buffin-Bélanger T., Fantino G., MacVicar B, Michel K. (2012), Nouveaux outils et nouvelles pratiques pour appréhender l'espace-temps fluvial. 80e Congrès de l'Association francophone pour le savoir, Montréal, QC. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B.J. and H. Piégay (2012), Toppled trees, jams, and wood-floodplain interactions: Interpreting the in-flood variability of fluvial wood transport from streamside video records, CWRA/CGU Annual General Meeting, Banff, AB. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B.J. (2012), Design à partir de la turbulence: la restauration des ruisseaux urbains, 80e Congrès de l'Association francophone pour le savoir, Montréal, QC. (Accepted in 2012)
• MacVicar, B.J. and H. Piégay (2012), Validation of video monitoring technique to measure wood transport in a river, RiverFlow, Costa Rica. (Accepted in 2011)
• Obach, L., B.J. MacVicar, and J. Best (2011), Riffle-pool hydrodynamics and coherent flow structures: the influence of pool and riffle length (poster), Coherent Flow Structures in Geophysical Flows at Earth's Surface, Burnaby BC. (Accepted in 2011)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Obach, C. Rennie, and J. Best (2011), Large-scale turbulent flow structures in pools, Coherent Flow Structures in Geophysical Flows at Earth's Surface, Burnaby BC. (Accepted in 2011)
• Obach, L., B.J. MacVicar, and J. Best (2010), Searching for scale: the effect of channel width and bedform length on riffle-pool hydrodynamics (poster), Gravel-Bed Rivers VII, Tadoussac, Quebec. (Accepted in 2010)
• MacVicar, B.J., I. Ali, L. Tougne, and H. Piegay (2009), Video monitoring of wood transport in a free-meandering piedmont river, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. (Accepted in 2009)
• Lamarre, H., G. Marquis, A.G. Roy, T. Buffin-Belanger, J. Therien, J. Lacey, and B. MacVicar (2009), Channel bed adjustments following a major debris flow in a mountain stream, 9th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology, Argentina. (Accepted in 2009)
• MacVicar, B.J. and J. Best (2009), The effect of channel width on large-scale flow structure over a macro-bedform, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. (Accepted in 2009)
• Lamarre, H. Therien, J., MacVicar, B. and Roy, A.G. (2007), The displacement of individual clasts in gravel-bed rivers. Canadian Quaternary Association-The Canadian Geomorphology research group, Ottawa, Canada. (Accepted in 2007)
• Rollet, A. J., B.J. MacVicar, H. Piegay, A. Roy (2007), A comparative study of the effect of river size on the use of Passive Integrated Transponders to estimate sediment transport, Transports solides et gestion des sediments, Societe Hydrotechnique de France, Lyon, France. (Accepted in 2007)
• MacVicar, B.J., and A. Roy (2005): Turbulence and partial transport in a forced riffle-pool, International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology, Delft, Netherlands. (Accepted in 2005)
• Lamarre, H., B.J. MacVicar, and A. Roy (2004): Using PIT tags to investigate sediment transport in a step-pool channel, American Association of Geographers 100th Annual General Meeting, Philadelphia, U.S.A. (Accepted in 2004)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Parrott, and A. Roy (2003): ROQ-B: A river-bed simulation model, American Association of Geographers 99th Annual General Meeting, New Orleans, U.S.A. (Accepted in 2003)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Parrott, and A. Roy (2003): A discrete particle model to simulate sediment transport and bedform development (poster), Canadian Geophysical Union 29th Annual General Meeting, Banff. (Accepted in 2003)
• MacVicar, B.J., L. Alexander, and A. Rexe (2001): Rapid change in the Don River Watershed: a geomorphic investigation into the impact of urbanization, Canadian Water Resource Association 54th Annual Conference, Guelph. (Accepted in 2001)
• MacVicar, Bruce Jonathan, Application of a rational model of stream equilibrium for predicting channel adjustments, January