Environmental Resource Quality

The surroundings in which people live affect their health. The air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the food we eat are important to quality of life. Air, soil, and water quality all contribute to an individual's health status. In the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering we are seeking solutions to environmental health and engineering challenges through cutting-edge research and discover approaches to effective intervention/prevention.
A major area of interest is on the development and application of appropriate and sustainable technologies for developing nations, with focus on water resources, drinking water, and sanitation. Other research is aimed at providing better tools for understanding of the historical and spatial landscape of prior technical interventions and outcomes for water and sanitation provision within developing regions.
Research Highlight
We are involved with two major projects that address emerging water quality concerns in the U.S. These include projects for the development of:
- Better cyber-enabled approaches for analyzing and understanding water quality observations in the Chesapeake Bay, as part of a multi-investigator NSF-funded effort to develop and apply a prototypical "Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory" (CBEO); and
- Better understanding of the potential environmental impact and fate of carbon-based nanomaterials in aquatic systems, with focus on multi-walled carbon nanotubes.
Associated Faculty
*Denotes faculty who are accepting PhD students.