Barbara is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita with the University of Idaho College of Law, where she has 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.

Her teaching and research expertise is in water law, the law-science interface and water dispute resolution. She was co-PI on 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 as part of the Universities Consortium on Columbia River Governance.