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Teacher Feature: Eran Hood
By Rosa Fonseca
Whalesong Staff
In the smallest
flasks are the best perfumes and the most powerful poisons.
This saying makes sense when we are talking about liquids and hydrology.
For Eran Hood, Assistant professor of Hydrology in the department
of Natural Sciences, one of the best things about UAS is that it
is a small school with small classes.
Coming to Juneau after getting his Ph.D. from the University
of Colorado, he said he is glad to be able to work with small groups
of students.
“Small is good,” he said. “Students can
ask a lot of questions and it gives you a chance to be more interactive
in a class.”
Hood also enjoys the strong emphasis UAS gives on field
research rather than simple work in the classroom. “It’s
great to be able to get outside the classroom and measure things,”
he said.
Hood is teaching Hydrology and GPS (Global Positioning
System) this semester. Environmental Science student Jamie Turner
said, “He really cares and tries hard to make sure everybody
understands what is going on” when students handle GPS machines
and record locations to make maps. “He is a hands-on instructor,”
she said, “He not only lectures, but shows how the process
of collecting data works.”
Since his arrival in Juneau, Hood has been involved
in field projects granted to the Environmental Science dept. of
UAS. He said, “The best way to restore water streams is to
understand how the hydrology cycle works.”
Fond of outdoor activities, Hood likes to be able to
go to places and combine work and personal life. In September he
participated in the Klondike International Road Relay, running from
Skagway to Whitehorse with the UAS (Unconventional Athletic Scholars)
team.
Hood is interested in snow hydrology. In his fieldwork in Colorado,
he studied snow characteristics and atmosphere. He also studied
how pollution from urban areas affects the snow and water quality.
Now at UAS, Hood is working on a project on avalanches
with undergraduate student Kent Scheler, to understand how atmosphere
conditions lead to the formation of unstable layers in the snow
pack. The avalanche site they are studying, near Eagle Crest ski
area, was found by Southeast Alaska Avalanche Center and preliminary
work began last winter.
His interest in snow hydrology has taken him to almost all continents
on the planet. He has made measurements in receding glaciers in
Ecuador and Bolivia, and also did field research on snow in far
western China.
As he listed the places he already visited he smiled
and with a sparkle in his eyes he said, “I still want to go
to Antarctica and Greenland.”
Student Sharlene LaCoursiere said, “He has a really
good sense of humor about everything.”
Maybe a sense of humor is the small detail that makes
a big difference in finding answers and understanding how things
work in life.
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