Initiatives and Programs

Hydrodynamics, Climate, and Environment Research Team

  • Associate Director, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Director, Numerical Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Great Lakes Research Center

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Introductory Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
  • Hydrodynamic Modeling
  • Water Resources Engineering
  • Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling

Research Interests

  • Hydrodynamic modeling
  • Regional climate modeling
  • Coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics
  • Data assimilation and machine learning
  • Biophysical processes in the Great Lakes
  • Estuary and coastal ocean processes
  • Assistant Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Area of Expertise

  • Hydrodynamic modeling
  • Regional climate modeling
  • Physical limnology
  • Nearshore processing

Research Interests

  • Great Lakes cross-scale hydrodynamics
  • Integrated Earth modeling system
  • Long-term climate change and projection over the Great Lakes
  • Short-term hydrodynamic forecasting in the Great Lakes
  • Interactions between atmospheric and lake processing

Environmental Biology, Biotechnology, and Water Quality Research Team

  • Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Associate Director, Great Lakes Research Center

Research Interests

  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Next-generation sequencing technology and bioinformatics/computational biology
  • Microbial physiology and biochemistry
  • Microbes as sensors for the environmental impacts of oil and gas production
  • Microbially-mediated remediation of crude oil contamination
  • Sustainability and plastic biodegradation

University-Indigenous Community Partner Program

  • Director, University-Indigenous Community Partnerships, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Humanities

Research Interests

  • University-Community Partnerships, research engagement, and equitable practice and design
  • Environmental Justice and Policy, toxic substances, risk management, and promoting holistic health
  • Indigenous / Native American Studies, treaties and the government-to-government relationship, food sovereignty, and Indigenous wisdom in the Great Lakes region
  • Environmental Stewardship and the Seven Generations Philosophy
  • Geosciences Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Areas of Interest

  • Geosciences Education
  • Geoconservation
  • Geoheritage
  • National Marine Sanctuary
  • Great Lakes Indigenous Knowledge
  • University-Indigenous Community Partnerships