Barbara is an Emerita University Distinguished Professor with the University of Idaho College of Law, where she taught for sixteen years.  Her LL.M. is from Lewis and Clark law school, J.D. from the University of California, Hastings, M.S. in Geology from the University of Washington, and B.S. in Geology from the University of California, Davis.

Prior to entering law, she had a career in geothermal exploration and research. With her career change to law she clerked for a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court then spent a decade as lead negotiator of federal and Native American water rights in a government-to-government process set up by the state of Montana.

After obtaining her LL.M. she entered a tenure-track position in the Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University and served as a mediator on the Walker River. She ultimately joined the faculty at the University of Idaho College of Law.

Her teaching and research expertise is in water law, the law-science interface, and water dispute resolution.  She was co-PI on the development of both the UI Waters of the West graduate program which offers a concurrent JD/MS and JD/PhD option, and the UI Water Resources IGERT focused on adaptation to climate change. She co-chaired the Adaptive Water Governance project made possible through support from the NSF funded National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, SESYNC, and spent spring 2015 as the Goyder Institute in Australia comparing water law reform in the western U.S. and Australia during drought.

In her outreach and engagement, she provides education and expertise on the Columbia River Treaty review and re-negotiation as part of the Universities Consortium on Columbia River Governance.

In retirement, she is looking once again to serving the water community through mediation.