Sustainability and resilience of natural resources depends on the integration of laboratory and field experimentation, data analytics, and modeling in novel ways. In Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering we develop sustainable solutions to environmental problems at local and global levels. We create and evaluate new soil and water conservation systems, analyze drivers of ecosystem processes that reduce pollution, quantify the effects of climate and land use change, and advance waste management and utilization for renewable energy generation. Research opportunities include air quality, water resources engineering, in-situ and remote sensing systems, animal environments and welfare, and sustainable food production systems.
Faculty
Laura Bowling
Courtesy - Professor of Agronomy
Research Areas
Hydrology and water resources engineering. Using observations to support open-access, process-based model development; quantifying water cycle alteration through human intervention across multiple scales, climate regimes and ecosystems. https://www.agry.purdue.edu/hydrology
Teresa Carvajal
Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Surface Materials Science - Exploring and exploiting physical and chemical factors governing particulate interactions to relationships between surface-structure and process-performance of food and pharmaceutical powders and composites
Keith Cherkauer
Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering. ntegration of field based observations, remote sensing products and, hydrology and crop models into a digital ecosystem that can be used to enhance sustainability in the face of environmental change. http://www.agry.purdue.edu/hydrology
Bernard Engel
Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture; Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Information Systems Soil and Water Resource Engineering. Hydrologic/water quality model development and application at field to watershed scales, groundwater modeling, environmental decision support systems, GIS, simulation. https://ag.purdue.edu
Dennis Flanagan
Adjunct Professor, National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory
Research Areas
Soil Erosion Mechanics, Prediction, and Control. Soil detachment, sediment transport, and sediment deposition processes. Process-based soil erosion modeling (WEPP model). Soil amendments for erosion control. Water quality monitoring and modeling. (USDA-ARS) http://topsoil.nserl.purdue.edu/~flanagan
Jane Frankenberger
Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Watershed management in agricultural watersheds. Conservation drainage and climate change adaptation for water quality and resilient agricultural landscapes, Conservation practice effectiveness; watershed modeling for improved community decision-making. http://engineering.purdue.edu/~frankenb
Margaret Gitau
Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Water Resources and Ecohydrologic Engineering: integrated (hydrologic, water quality, statistical) modeling; climate, land use/land management impacts; data-driven approaches for water resources decision making and management. http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mgitau/
Sara McMillan
Adjunct - Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Iowa State University
Research Areas
Ecological Restoration and Biogeochemistry Water quality in agricultural and urban watersheds; social-ecological systems; field monitoring, lab experiments, and computer modeling to develop environmental solutions and restore ecosystem functions. http://www.saramcmillan.weebly.com
Jiqin (JQ) Ni
Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Waste Management, Treatment, and Utilization: Anaerobic digestion of agricultural and industrial wastes; animal environment and welfare; air pollution monitoring and modeling; and data acquisition software and sensor development.
Caitlin Proctor
Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Ecological & Environmental Engineering
Research Areas
Microbial ecology of aquatic systems. Improving systems to enhance functionality and protect public health (e.g., in drinking water) by understanding the dynamic ecosystems happening on small scales.
Dharmendra Saraswat
Associate Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Precision/Digital Agriculture Remote sensing and Internet of Things (IoT) for managing plants/animals, development of spatio-temporal/machine learning models for site specific plant management, and decision support tools for natural resources management. https://dad.saraswat.rcac.purdue.edu/
Halis Simsek
Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Research Areas
Shweta Singh
Associate Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering and Ecological & Environmental Engineering
Research Areas
Sustainable Systems Modeling: Systems Modeling, Sustainability in Industrial-Natural Coupled Systems (SINCS), Urban Sustainability, Complex Systems Models, Integrated Nitrogen Modeling, Biodiversity Loss, and Chemical Pollutants.
Mark Williams
Adjunct - National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory
Research Areas
Subsurface hydrology, water quality, tile drainage, preferential flow, water isotopes, field and watershed monitoring.
