John Parish Memorial Graduate Scholarship awarded to Civil and Environmental Engineering student
Waterloo graduate student Megan Iun, MASc Candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and part of the River Hydraulics Research Group, has been awarded a scholarship honouring one of the pioneers of fluvial geomorphology.
In 2022, the Water Institute announced the John Parish Memorial Scholarship established by friends and family in John’s memory. Parish (BES’85) was admired internationally in the field of fluvial geomorphology – studying rivers and river processes, and how they influence the lands around them. He was instrumental in the development of policies and implementation guidelines for managing watersheds in Southern Ontario and was a champion for natural river restoration across Canada.
Megan, who was raised in Calgary, credits frequent family trips to nearby hiking spots such as Banff, Canmore and Salmon Arm, famous for their stunning rivers and lakes, as the start of her interest in geomorphology. She moved to Ottawa when she was nine, and her interest in geomorphology was reinforced by a high school geography field study project in a local creek.
With Waterloo’s reputation as one of the top engineering schools in Canada and the ability to earn work experience through the co-op program, Megan came to Waterloo to pursue a BASc of Environmental Engineering.
“I stayed at Waterloo for my master’s degree because I was able to find a project that aligned with my career goals in pursuing river restoration, and the funding to support my work. I had also previously worked with Bruce MacVicar, Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, during a co-op term and knew that he would be a good supervisor,” said Megan. Megan is also a student of the Water Institute’s Collaborative Water Program.
“This scholarship represents not just a financial support for my academic journey but a vital opportunity to amplify the impact of my research on river and aquatic habitat restoration, particularly in the context of the unique challenges posed by the rehabilitation of salmon habitat in human and climate-impacted watersheds,” said Megan.
Megan Iun, MASc Candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, winner of the John Parish Memorial Graduate Scholarship.
Megan’s research is assessing the design criteria for gravel augmentation at a lake outlet near Gold River, BC, to support salmon spawning enhancement projects in collaboration with industry partners, David West, Pengcheng Li and Adam Marriner from Ecofish Research Ltd and the project proponents, Nootka Sound Watershed Society and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations. Megan’s research is intended to advance the design methodologies and strategies for spawning habitat restoration projects at lake outlet sites, in hopes that these findings can be applied to other similar sites.
“Megan’s research involves different partners and two different methods, so she has been asked to do a lot and to answer a lot of both detailed but also practical questions with respect to the design of this restoration strategy,” said Professor MacVicar.
“I don’t think I realized when we started how novel this question would be and some of the potential difficulties with the tools for analysis that we had available, but Megan has done some fantastic work that will help resolve some fundamental questions while providing practical support for the restoration design of the lake outlet of the Muchalat River.”
“I hope that my research can help to shed light on the hydraulics and sediment transport dynamics at lake outlets, their impacts on the spatial distribution of gravel stability in such environments and how these impacts can be optimized with other design criteria, such as habitat suitability,” explained Megan.
“I am planning to continue my trajectory as a water resources engineer-in-training and obtain my P.Eng license while working in the river restoration field. I’m open to pursuing a PhD after reaching this milestone if the right opportunities come up.”