As Director of the Watershed Sciences and Engineering (WSE) Program, Ben Hayes gives leadership to shepherding the vision, mission, and vitality of the program. He has a diverse teaching background in geomorphology and hydrogeology and research strengths in fluvial processes, aquatic habitat restoration, and erosion and sediment transport. He collaborates with faculty in biology, geology, civil and environmental engineering, and computer science and helps with grant writing and project management. He's always looking for ways to connect faculty and students to teaching and research opportunities in Susquehanna and the Chesapeake Bay watersheds.

Hayes has also worked as a river guide and has years of experience working on large rivers, including the Kennebec and Penobscot in New England, the Nooksack and Skagit Rivers in the Pacific Northwest, and the Colorado and San Juan rivers in the Southwestern United States. He began working at Bucknell in 1996 as a faculty member in the Department of Geologyand continues to collaborate with faculty and students on a number of projects in the Susquehanna watershed and the Chesapeake Bay region. His work has also taken him to watersheds in Iceland, South Africa, Costa Rica, Canada, Tennessee, and Hawaii.