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This newly funded research aims to transform crop production systems by designing, developing, and demonstrating benign, sustainably-manufactured nitrogen carriers through the following objectives.
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Nutrient and water subsidies to urban streams
NSF- Hydrologic Sciences
Role: PI
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Assessing the Ecosystem Impact of Drinking Water
Orthophosphate Addition on Urban Watersheds
RAPID NSF- Ecosystem Science
Role: Co-PI
Collaborators
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Since the Flint, Michigan episode, drinking water utilities across the U.S. are using orthophosphate additions to control corrosion from lead pipe networks. However, the use of PO43− corrosion inhibitors, can also provide nutrients for bacteria, resulting in increased microbial regrowth in the distribution system (pipe network) and potentially change the microbial and macrobial ecology in downstream urban streams. This NSF-funded RAPID project examines changes in the chemistry, nutrient limitation and microbiome of the drinking water pipe and urban streams before and after the initiation of orthophosphate use by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. The major objectives of the proposal are: 1) Determine the influence of P addition on the microbial community in pipe and urban stream networks; 2) Determine the influence of P addition on water chemistry and nutrient status in urban streams, and 3) Measure direct impacts of P addition on algal growth potential.
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Assessing harmful algal blooms in the Ohio River:
Drinking Water in a Changing Climate
Hillman Foundation
Role: PI
Collaborators
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We are hiring PhD for this project! Interested? See join us.
The Ohio River is the only inland river in North America that has experienced extensive harmful algal blooms that contaminate drinking water, threaten ecological health, and cause economic loss. To better inform water management and residents, it is critical to develop cost-effective strategies to identify blooms. Project objectives include: 1) Synthesize existing water quality data to further understand status and threats to regional surface water, 2) Develop cost efficient tools to assess water quality threats from harmful algal blooms using remote sensing, and 3) Collaborate with government agencies to pool data, expertise, and ensure our products are useful for water resource managers. Project outcomes will include a new database of chlorophyll-a and algal blooms along Ohio River and new data products, apps, and visualizations that connect residents and managers to regional ways.
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Transcending Disciplines to Advance Water Equity
Pitt Momentum Funds
Role: PI
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This project brings together faculty from Sociology, Public & International Affairs, and Public Health with the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory to forge new capacity to address regional challenges of water equity. Our overarching objective is to develop a framework for knowledge co-production that breaks down barriers between the University and the community and among schools and disciplines at the University of Pittsburgh, in order to advance the human right to water.
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Cyanobacteria and nitrogen cycling in the Great Lakes
NSF- Chemical Oceanography
Role: Co-PI
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This collaborative project assesses the utility of using the nitrogen isotope composition of chloropigments as a molecular proxy of contemporary and historic cyanobacteria productivity in aquatic ecosystems. This proxy is being tested in contemporary aquatic systems in Lake Superior and Lake Erie, where each represents is a trophic endmembers of the Laurentian Great Lakes Deployed moorings, phytoplankton tows, sediment cores, and water column samples are being used to determine whether productivity is exported proportionally to surface water production by cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae.
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