Joel has worked on and studied rivers and water resource issues for over ten years, focusing on water quality and watershed management, stream restoration, fluvial geomorphology, and floodplain management throughout Colorado and the East Coast. He is a faculty instructor of Civil Engineering at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. 

Education History

  • Bachelor’s of Science Environmental Science, Duke University
  • Master’s of Arts Physical River Science, Geography, University of NC, Chapel Hill
  • PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University

Work Experience

Instructor, Colorado Mesa University

Publications

BenDor, T., Sholtes, J., & Doyle, M. W. (2009). Landscape characteristics of a stream and wetland mitigation banking program. Ecological Applications, 19(8), 2078-2092.

Sholtes, J. S., & Doyle, M. W. (2010). Effect of channel restoration on flood wave attenuation. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 137(2), 196-208.

Sholtes, J., Werbylo, K., & Bledsoe, B. (2014). Physical context for theoretical approaches to sediment transport magnitude‐frequency analysis in alluvial channels. Water Resources Research, 50(10), 7900-7914.

Sholtes, J. S., & Bledsoe, B. P. (2016). Half-yield discharge: Process-based predictor of bankfull discharge. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 04016017.

Schook, D. M., Carlson, E. A., Sholtes, J. S., & Cooper, D. J. (2016). Effects of Moderate and Extreme Flow Regulation on Populus Growth along the Green and Yampa Rivers, Colorado and Utah. River Research and Applications.

Rosburg, T. T., Nelson, P. A., Sholtes, J. S., & Bledsoe, B. P. (2016). The effect of flow data resolution on sediment yield estimation and channel design. Journal of Hydrology, 538, 429-439.

Bledsoe, B.P., Baker, D., Nelson, P., Rosburg, T., Sholtes, J.S., Stroth, T. (2017). Guidance for design hydrology for stream restoration and channel stability. National Cooperative Highways Research Program, Research Report 853. National Academies of Science, Transp. Research Board, Washington, D.C. 80p.

Yochum, S.E., Sholtes, J.S., Scott, J.A., Bledsoe, B.P. (2017). Stream Power Framework for Predicting Geomorphic Change: the 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood. Geomorphology.

Sholtes, J. S., Ubing, C., Randle, T. J., Fripp, J., Cenderelli, D., & Baird, D. C. (2017). Managing Infrastructure in the Stream Environment. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

Sholtes, J. S., Yochum, S. E., Scott, J. A., & Bledsoe, B. P. (2018). Longitudinal variability of geomorphic response to floods. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 43(15), 3099-3113.

Honors and Awards

  • EPA STAR Fellow (2014)
  • NSF IGERT Fellow (2009)