The Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science research activities are focused around three areas:
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environmental science, with emphasis on contaminant transport and fate, water quality, waste management/reuse, soil/groundwater remediation, and ecosystem restoration
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subsurface science, with emphasis on physical, chemical, and microbiological processes
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soil, plant, atmosphere systems, with emphasis on remote sensing, climate science, soil-water-plant relations, soil genesis, morphology and pedology, and aquaculture
Specific Program Areas
NEW PROGRAM AREAS SPRING 2011
- Research Translation for Environmental Science--This program will award a M.S. degree in Soil, Water, and Environmental Science with a specific focus on research translation for environmental science. more info
- M.S. Degree in SWES With a Journalism Concentration--This non-thesis program will award a M.S. degree in Soil, Water, and Environmental Science with a specific focus on journalism for environmental science. This program was developed in
collaboration with the School of Journalism. Those interested in this program may also wish to consider the Dual Degree Program in Journalism and Soil, Water, and Environmental Science. more info
ONGOING PROGRAM AREAS
- Aquaculture: Freshwater and marine systems; aquaponics; integrated farming systems
- Contaminant hydrology: Transport and fate of contaminants (organic/inorganic chemicals, pathogenic organisms) in soil and groundwater; transport modeling
- Climate science: Applied climatology; global change; physical and environmental geography; environmental monitoring.
- 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: microbial ecology of stressed environments
- Environmental pedology: Pedogenesis; soil forming processes; response of soil systems to climate change
- Soil and groundwater remediation: Innovative site characterization methods; innovative technologies for remediation of groundwater, source zones, and vadose zones
- 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
- 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 surveys
- Vadose zone hydrology: Infiltration and redistribution of water; characterizing permeability
- 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
| For contact information and faculty bio pages please visit the main faculty page of this website | |
| FACULTY |
RESEARCH INTEREST |
Silvertooth, Jeffrey C. |
Soil fertility/plant nutrition, soil and water management, salinity and sodicity management |
Artiola, Janick F. |
Soil, water, and waste chemistry; analytical and environmental chemistry, land treatment of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, waste management |
Brown, Paul W. |
Agricultural meteorology, biometeorology, evapotranspiration, crop water use, heat units, Ag weather information |
Brusseau, Mark L. Professor |
Contaminant transport and fate, mass-transfer processes, modeling, soil/groundwater contamination and remediation |
Chief, Karletta |
Watershed hydrology, unsaturated flow in arid environments, and natural and human disturbance affect on soil hydrology through the use of physically based methods. |
| Chorover, Jon, Professor |
Sorption and transformation reactions in soil and water |
Crimmins, Michael |
Applied climatology, global change, physical and environmental geography, environmental monitoring |
Curry, Joan, |
Soil physical chemistry, surface chemistry, molecular modeling |
Fitzsimmons, Kevin |
Aquaculture, reuse of effluents for crop irrigation, international economic development |
Gerba, Charles P. Professor |
Environmental microbiology: gene probes, water reuse, biocolloid transport in the subsurface, virology, parasitology, risk assessment |
Glenn, Edward P. Professor |
New crops, utilization of saline water, plants for bioremediation, environmental management |
Maier, Raina M. Professor |
Microbial ecology of stressed environments (caves, deserts, dust), bioremediation and reclamation of mining sites, biosurfactant discovery and characterization |
Matthias, Allan D. |
Micro meteorology, energy budget, trace gases |
Megdal, Sharon |
Projects include study of artificial recharge and municipal water use in growing, arid regions |
Pepper, Ian |
Soils and human health; potable water quality including real-time sensors for microbial and chemical contaminants: fate of emerging microbial and biological contaminants; water and wastewater reuse |
Rasmussen, Craig |
Pedogenesis, soil forming processes, response of soil systems to climate change |
Rich, Virginia |
Microbial communities impact biogeochemistry and global change |
| Riley, James J. Assoc. Professor |
International agriculture, arid-land management, halophytes |
Rock, Channah |
Molecular pathogen detection, water quality |
Sanchez, Charles |
Soil fertility, vegetable/fruit crops, environmental impact of fertilizer use |
Schaap, Marcel |
Environmental physics, measurements and computer modeling of physical transport processes in the environment |
Tuller, Markus |
Greenhouse gas emissions from natural and managed ecosystems; electromagnetic characterization and physical reclamation of mine tailings; X-Ray Computed Tomography; Modeling of evaporation and hydraulic behavior of soils and porous media |
Walworth, James |
Soil fertility, plant nutrition, bioremediation, waste management |
updated 09/2011