Dr. Minear completed his undergraduate degree at Colorado College and later received Masters and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining CIRES, Dr. Minear worked as a Research Hydrologist at the United States Geological Survey at the California Water Science Center and the National Research Program. Dr. Minear works on a variety of river research and hydrodynamic modeling projects in California and the Western U.S., including the San Joaquin River, Trinity River, Klamath River, Merced River in Yosemite National Park, and Elwha River Dam Removal Project. Dr. Minear is a Science Team and Cal/Val Team member for the upcoming NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission and serves on the U.S. Subcommittee on Sedimentation.