Martin Doyle is a Professor at Duke University focused on the science and policy of rivers and water in the US. His work ranges from fluid mechanics and sediment transport to infrastructure finance and federal water policy. His first book, The Source (WW Norton, February, 2018), is a history of America’s rivers. In addition to his role as a professor, Doyle has had several stints in government: in 2015-2016, he moved to the Department of Interior, where he helped establish the Natural Resources Investment Center, an initiative of the Obama Administration to push forward private investment in water infrastructure, enable water marketing, and increase the use of markets and conservation banks for species conservation. Prior to that, in 2009-2010, he was the inaugural Frederick J. Clarke Scholar at the US Army Corps of Engineers. During this time, he was located at the Institute for Water Resources and tasked with assisting the Corps with regulatory policy particularly focused on mitigation banking and jurisdiction of ‘waters of the US.’
Over the past 20 years, Doyle’s research has ranged from aging infrastructure and dam removal to emerging environmental markets and impact investing in water. He is also the director for water policy at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, where is a co-organizer and leader of the annual Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum, which brings together some of the world’s foremost thought leaders each year around the future of water.
He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Early Career Award from the National Science Foundation, and recognized as a Kavli Fellow for the Frontiers of Science from the US National Academy of Sciences.
School Division
Environmental Sciences & PolicyEducation
- Ph.D., Purdue University (2002)
Recent Grants
- Building Adaptive Capacity in the Carolinas: CISA awarded by University of South Carolina
- Rethinking the future of water infrastructure in Small & Shrinking Cities awarded by Spring Point Partners LLC
- Implementing the Internet of Water awarded by Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation
- Assessing water quality impacts of dam removal: in situ and remote sensing approaches awarded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Internet of Water awarded by Walton Family Foundation
Selected Publications
- Water Resources Research 51, no. 7 ( ): 5603 - 5622
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12, no. 3 ( ): 186 - 193
- Environmental Management 55, no. 1 ( ): 6 - 18
- Water Resources Research ( ):
- Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103, no. 2 ( ): 290 - 298