Sarah Peirce

Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
Sidney Smith Hall, Room 5027B

Campus

Fields of Study

Areas of Interest

Physical Geography, Fluvial Geomorphology, Field Methods

Biography

Sarah Peirce joined the U of T faculty at the St. George Campus as a CLTA Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in 2019. Sarah teaches the following physical geography courses: - Geomorphology (GGR201) - Introduction to Soil Science (GGR205) - Fluvial Geomorphology (GGR301) - Canadian Arctic and Subarctic Environments (GGR308) - Biogeography (GGR305) - Geomorphology and the Anthropocene (GGR406) Before teaching at U of T, Sarah was a Mitacs Elevate postdoctoral fellow investigating the performance and geomorphic monitoring practices of natural channel design projects in Southern Ontario. Sarah’s previous postdoctoral and Ph.D. work at the University of Waterloo and Western University, respectively, made use of physical models of rivers to examine sediment transport and morphological change.

Publications 

Papangelakis, E., Hassan, M. A., Luzi, D., Burge, L.M., & Peirce, S. (2023). Measuring geomorphology in river assessment procedures 2: Recommendations for supporting river management goals. Journal of the American Water Resources Association59: 360–1382 DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.13145

Papangelakis, E., Hassan, M. A., Luzi, D., Burge, L.M., & Peirce, S. (2023). Measuring geomorphology in river assessment procedures 1: A global overview of current practices. Journal of the American Water Resources Association59:1342–1359 DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.13146

Peirce, S., MacVicar, B.J., Papangelakis, E, Vervynck, L., Ashmore, P. (2021) Experiments on restoring alluvial cover using gravel augmentation in a variable width channel with irregular meanders. Geomorphology. Vol 379 (107585). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107585.

Leduc, P., Peirce, S., and Ashmore, P. (2019) Short Communication: Challenges and Applications of Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry in a Physical Model of a Braided River. Earth Surface Dynamics. Vol. 7 (1): 97-106. DOI: doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-97-2019.

Peirce, S., Ashmore, P., and Leduc, P. (2018) Evolution of Grain Size Distributions and Bed Mobility during Hydrographs in Gravel-Bed Braided Rivers. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Vol. 44 (1): 752-765. DOI: 10.1002/esp.4511.

Peirce, S., Ashmore, P., and Leduc, P. (2018) The variability in the morphological active width: results from physical models of gravel-bed braided rivers. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Vol. 43 (11): 2371-2383. DOI:10.1002/esp.4400.

Education

Ph.D., Western University M.Sc., University of Guelph

Administrative Service

St. George Undergraduate Committee