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Program Areas and Faculty Advisors
Information for Prospective Graduate Students
The Department
research activities are focused around three areas:
- subsurface science, with emphasis on physical, chemical, and microbiological processes
- environmental science, with emphasis on contaminant transport and fate, waste management/reuse, soil/groundwater remediation, and ecosystem restoration
- soil, plant, atmosphere systems, with emphasis on remote sensing, soil-water-plant relations, and soil genesis and morpholog
Specific Program Areas
- Contaminant Hydrology: Transport and fate of contaminants (organic/inorganic chemicals, and bacteria/viruses) in soil and groundwater; transport modeling
- Contaminant Remediation: Pump and treat; bioremediation; soil venting; soil bioreactors; innovative technologies
- Ecosystem Restoration: Phytoremediation; salt-tolerant plants; re-vegetation
- Environmental Chemistry: Analytical methods; sorption of chemicals; phase partitioning
- Environmental Microbiology: Biodegradation of organic compounds; molecular/genetic techniques
- Remote Sensing: Remote sensing, canopy modeling, terrestrial biophysics, global change
- Soil-Water-Atmosphere Relations: Evapotranspiration; irrigation; leaching; plant water stress; crop production research; spatial variability; water use efficiency
- Soil and Water Quality: Hazardous-waste chemistry; salinity; soil/groundwater contamination, water-borne pathogens, water quality
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry: Molecular approaches to microbial ecology; pathogen detection; rhizosphere biology; N2-fixation
- Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition: Plant responses to N and P; nitrogen movement; denitrification losses; N-tracer chemistry; nutrient availability; fertilizer use efficiency
- Soil Morphology, Genesis, Classification and Survey: Micromorphology; soil mineralogy; soil mapping; soil erosion; GIS; remote sensing in soil survey
- Vadose Zone Hydrology: Processes and phenomena relating to transport and retention of water, between the ground surface and permanent water table
- Waste Disposal and Management: Land treatment; land reclamation; waste-water reuse; waste management; air-pollution abatement
Visit Research Programs on our website for
more detailed information.
In addition, once enrolled in the SWES graduate degree program, students may concurrently pursue a Graduate Certificate in Water Policy
Faculty (underline indicates contact info and link to faculty cv) |
Research Interests |
| Silvertooth, Jeffrey C. Department Head Soil and Water Science |
Soil fertility/plant nutrition, soil and water management, salinity and sodicity management |
| Artiola, Janick F. Associate Research Scientist Soil and Water Science |
Soil, water, and waste chemistry; analytical and environmental chemistry, land treatment of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, waste management |
| Brown, Paul W. Extension Specialist Soil Science, Meteorology |
Agricultural meteorology, biometeorology, evapotranspiration, crop water use, heat units, agweather information |
| Brusseau, Mark L. Professor Subsurface Hydrology/ Environmental Chemistry |
Contaminant transport and fate, mass transfer processes, modeling, soil/groundwater contamination and remediation |
| Crimmins, Michael Assistant Extension Specialist Assistant Professor Climate Science |
Applied climatology, global change, physical and environmental geography, Environmental monitoring |
| Chorover, Jon Professor Environmental Chemistry |
Sorption and transformation reactions in soil and water |
| Curry, Joan Associate Professor Soil Physical Chemistry |
Soil physical chemistry, surface chemistry, molecular modeling |
| Fitzsimmons, Kevin Associate Research Scientist Biology |
Aquaculture, marine ecology, billfish biology, bioremediation |
| Gerba, Charles P. Professor Microbiology |
Environmental microbiology, gene probes, water reuse, biocolloid transport in the subsurface, virology, parasitology, risk assessment |
| Glenn, Edward P. Professor Botanical Sciences |
New crops, utilization of saline water, plants for bioremediation, environmental management |
| Huete, Alfredo Professor Soils and Remote Sensing |
Soils and Remote Sensing Remote sensing, canopy modeling, terrestrial physics, global change |
| Jacobs, Kathy Associate Extension Specialist |
Water and Climate Climate, water and policy management, drought planning |
| Maier, Raina Professor Environmental Microbiology |
Bioremediation, microbial ecology, modeling of microbial degradation of xenobiotics |
| Matthias, Allan D. Associate Professor Agricultural Climatology |
Micro meteorology, energy budgets, trace gases |
| Pepper, Ian L. Professor Environmental Microbiology |
Molecular ecology of soil organisms, reuse of wastes, molecular detection of pathogens |
| Rasmussen, Craig Assistant Professor Environmental Pedology |
Pedogenesis, soil forming processes, response of soil systems to climate change |
| Rensing, Christopher Assistant Professor Environmental Microbiology |
Environmental Microbiology Structure and function of metal transport proteins |
| Riley, James Associate Professor Hydrology-Meteorology |
Hydrology-Meteorology International agriculture, arid-land management, halophytes |
| Schaap, Marcel Assistant Professor Environmental Physics |
Pedotransfer functions, fluid behavior using Lattice Boltzmann modeling |
| Tuller, Markus Associate Professor Environmental Physics |
Hydraulic behavior of swelling porous media, leaching processes and groundwater contamination |
| Walworth, James Associate Professor Soil and Water Science |
Soil fertility, plant nutrition, bioremediation, waste management |