[5][6] In hiring staff for the newly-created Stroud Center, Patrick brought together ecologists, chemists, entomologists, hydrologists, and fisheries scientists.
[9] Patrick's vision for the Stroud Center was to perform theoretical research on aquatic ecosystems that also had practical applications for solving environmental problems.
[2] The Stroud Center received funding from the National Science Foundation and the US Forest Service to study carbon dynamics in streams.
[19] It also contributed to the National Science Foundation's Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory to understand biogeochemical processes at the interface between Earth's surface and subsurface.
[4] An expansion of facilities in 1995 was anticipated to allow 5,000 elementary and high school students per year to participate in classroom and field experiences.
[31] The 2007 Mountaintop to Tap project organized by the Stroud Center led 12 high school students from New York on a 80 mile backpacking trip through the Catskill Mountains and rowed down the Hudson River.
[36] Under the direction of Bernard Sweeney, Stroud Water Research Center established the Maritza Biological Station in the Guanacaste Conservation Area of Costa Rica.
[37] Sweeney guided the Stroud Center's independence from the Academy of Natural Sciences and succeeded Robin Vannote as director in 1988.