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Shankar Chellam, Ph.D., a professor, civil engineer and researcher in Texas A&M’s Zachary Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, reflects on his career and advises the next generation of students.

The natural environment one grows up in can heavily influence their interests and path in life. Texas Water Resources Institute Research Specialist Jason Gerlich grew up outdoors, happiest when surrounded by agriculture and nature, and pursuing that love has taken him across the world and back to his home state to work on water quality issues.

Suresh Pillai, Ph.D., has worn many hats throughout his life that have led him to Texas A&M (and his current DJ hobby). As the director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research, Pillai's research and leadership has the chance to make a global impact.

Growing up in Mexico City inspired Itza Mendoza-Sanchez to care about water issues. Now a Texas A&M School of Public Health professor, she looks to connect human health and the environment through her research.

Meet Garrett McKay, Ph.D., assistant professor position in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, who leads an Aquatic Chemistry lab and researches environmental photochemistry.  

Meet Texas A&M University professor and PFAS researcher Susie Dai, Ph.D., associate professor of plant pathology and microbiology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

Yina Liu's academic path has led her across oceans and deep into emerging research fields. Now an assistant professor of oceanography at Texas A&M, she is working to further our understanding of PFAS.

An associate professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, Xingmao "Samuel" Ma, is on the forefront of PFAS research.

Bill Balboa, the executive director of the Matagorda Bay Foundation, has dedicated his life and career to advocating for the protection of Matagorda Bay.

An associate professor in Texas A&M University’s Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Huilin Gao, Ph.D., investigates and monitors hydrologic systems using remote sensing technology.

A research specialist at Texas Water Resources Institute, Duncan Kikoyo, Ph.D., dedicates his professional life to promoting equitable stakeholder participation in water resources management and planning.

Srinivasulu Ale, Ph.D., devotes his professional work to sustainable management of water resources on crop, pasture and grazing lands.

From the time he first witnessed the massive irrigation infrastructure growing up in Indus River Basin in Pakistan, Ali Ajaz, Ph.D., program specialist with Texas Water Resource Institute, has dedicated his studies and professional activities to irrigation engineering.

Scientist, farmer and rodeo athlete: Meet soil chemist Katie Lewis

Kathleen O’Reilly, Ph.D., is a professor in the Geography Department at Texas A&M University where she focuses on how people’s location and gender affect their relationship with water and sanitation. But her road to these unique focuses was a long and unusual journey.

Stephanie deVilleneuve is a water and soil scientist and research associate at Texas Water Resources Institute.

Having grown up in a big city with a love for animals and the ocean, Pam Plotkin, Ph.D., built a career around sea turtles and marine conservation and restoration, which allowed her to travel widely in tropical environments and fulfill her childhood dream.

Paul Montagna, Ph.D., is the Chair for HydroEcology at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is among the top 2% of researchers in the world for scientific impact and he contributed to the largest environmental settlement in history. 

Robert Mace, Ph.D., the Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and a professor in the Department of Geography at Texas State University, has worked as a water researcher for over 30 years helping people understand water.

Jaclyn Robertson is a third-generation Aggie and the fourth generation to live on her family's property in Milano County, Texas. Her strong connection to her community and deep Texas roots is what motivates her work as an AgriLife Extension associate for the Texas Water Resources Institute.

Nathan Glavy is a San Antonio native, a two-time graduate of Texas A&M University and an Extension program specialist at Texas Water Resources Institute, TWRI.

Growing up in the Texas Hill Country, Lindsay Sansom, Ph.D., fell in love with water. As an adult, she has spent her entire career helping others connect with — and protect — their local water sources.

A winding career in chemistry has inspired a Texas A&M professor to tackle environmental problems using a single compound.

Between his family’s natural love of science and computing and his need for speed, Saurav Kumar, Ph.D. always knew he would get into science and coding. But he didn’t know he would apply those skills to water systems.

Juan Enciso, Ph.D. was inspired by the beauty of agriculture and the natural world to study irrigation. Now he sees irrigators as key stewards of a more water-efficient future.

Samuel Brody, Ph.D., wants to help make society more resilient to natural hazards. To do that, one must first understand how to “bridge the gap between knowledge and action,” he said.

Dr. Zhuping Sheng strives to see technology and engineering give good, workable answers to water users' questions.

As a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program specialist for the Texas Water Resources Institute, Monroe connects the public with what they need, from educational events to septic systems, to accomplish their goals.

Dr. Genhua Niu is always on the lookout for the next agricultural innovation. As a professor of urban agriculture at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas, she studies how growing environments can be adjusted to enhance plant growth and quality in urban settings, such as by manipulating the light quality, light intensity or nutrient solution.

As a Texas A&M University associate professor and extension specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, Fouad Jaber applies concepts of ecological engineering to managing urban water using natural elements to try to solve problems related to stormwater pollution.

Texas Water Resources Institute research assistant Anna Gitter bridges the gaps between environmental science and public health, scientists and nonscientists, and fieldwork and computer work.

Laura Rodriguez Lozada, a graduate student at Texas A&M University and graduate research assistant at Texas Water Resources Institute, is a member of the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program team conducting binational scientific research on transboundary aquifers.

Problem-solving and water management go hand-in-hand for David Smith, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program specialist at Texas A&M University in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He is also program coordinator for the award-winning Texas 4-H Water Ambassadors Program.

From Lubbock to Athens, and now College Station, Dr. Rebecca Grubbs-Bowling, Texas A&M University assistant professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service turfgrass specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, helps Texans better understand their turfgrass.

From a math major to a watershed saver, Clare Entwistle, Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) research associate, knows that protecting riparian areas is important for the future of Texas.

Sometimes inspiration strikes in the shower or while lying in bed falling asleep, but for Dr. Girisha Ganjegunte, associate professor of water resources and salinity management with Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, inspiration came in the form of an article about biotechnology and agriculture.

Learn about Dr. Rabi Mohtar's work on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus and how he returned to his roots in Lebanon to make an impact.

Specializing in agricultural irrigation, Dr. Dana Porter evaluates and promotes appropriate applications of advanced irrigation technologies that are water efficient.

Researching water quality does not only include examining water. Ed Rhodes, research associate for Texas Water Resources Institute, studies land cover and land use as it relates to water quality.

Did you know that studying fish populations helps with understanding water management? Looking at the behaviors and patterns of organisms such as fish can give researchers a better perspective of how to manage water.

Dr. Joshuah Perkin, assistant professor in Texas A&M University’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences and fish ecologist, is doing just that.

The idea of uncertainty can be an unsettling topic. Dr. Rosario Sanchez-Flores, a Texas Water Resources Institute research scientist, is using science to tackle a major source of uncertainty affecting agriculture and water security along the Texas-Mexico border: transboundary aquifers.

From working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, to serving in the White House, to teaching in a lecture hall at Texas A&M University, Dr. Andrew Dessler has served in many roles as a scientist.

Dr. Peter Knappett, assistant professor in Texas A&M University’s Department of Geology and Geophysics, studies Bangladesh’s water quality issues. 

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, Michael Schramm spent most of his youth surfing, fishing and exploring the rugged Atlantic coast. The barrier island beaches not only influenced his childhood activities but also helped develop his professional interests.

Most people are wary of parasitic insects such as lice and ticks. But for Dr. Jessica Light, understanding these complex parasites is a driving force of her research.

Alaska is home to some of the largest animals in North America, such as moose, caribou and muskoxen. While there, Dr. Perry Barboza spent a lot of time thinking and working on these iconic species that roam the tundra and forests.

From the Sea of Galilee in Israel, to the northern Gulf of Mexico, to a neotropical river in Venezuela, Dr. Daniel Roelke’s research has led him all over the world — in pursuit of species smaller than a drop of water.

For some people, having access to clean water is not as easy as simply turning on a faucet. Some of the United States’ poorest regions rely on inadequate water delivery systems, unaffordable potable water or unclean tap water for their household water use. This is a reality for tens of thousands of households in colonias, underdeveloped communities along the U.S.-Mexico border often lacking basic infrastructure, and it is also a focus of Dr. Wendy Jepson’s research.

Based on her extensive avian research record, one might assume Dr. Ashley Long, Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (IRNR) research scientist,  has been fascinated with birds her whole life. However, Long’s interest in ecology and wildlife didn’t begin until she was in college.

Biodiversity: that’s a word many biologists are well familiar with.

But even before the term was coined by E. O. Wilson in his 1992 book “The Diversity of Life,” Dr. Lee Fitzgerald and his research team were cataloging biological diversity within the country of Paraguay.

Dr. Charles Randklev is not one to shy away from challenges. In fact, based on his current field of research, he seems to embrace them. As the principal investigator for Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources Texas A&M University Mussel Research Group, exploring freshwater mussel populations literally involves getting his feet wet — sometimes wading waist deep in Texas streams and rivers.

Whether it’s on an island off the coast of Georgia, under the canopy of a rainforest in Costa Rica or in the arid Trans-Pecos in West Texas, for Dr. Georgianne Moore, working in the field is where she feels most at home.

Dr. Allen Berthold may have grown up dryland farming, but that doesn’t mean he’s not making waves now. As a research scientist at the Texas Water Resources Institute, Berthold helps coordinate various research and extension projects involving water planning, assessment and conservation.

Quick reflexes and a set of hands — these were Dr. Wade Ryberg’s childhood tools for catching reptiles and amphibians. After the capture, he would often bring the animal home for further study. “I would catch something in the wild, keep it, feed it, watch it eat, and then I would just put it back where I found it,” he said. 

Despite the critical need to treat and reuse wastewater, many water consumers are unaware of the process, according to Dr. Anish Jantrania of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Transforming complex wastewater science into easily applied information is his mission.

On any given day one might find Lucas Gregory monitoring water quality in the field, analyzing data or writing grants and publications. “There’s really never a dull moment, and that’s one of the things that I like about working here,” said Gregory, Texas Water Resources Institute project specialist and quality assurance officer.

When Dr. Jay Angerer earned his bachelor’s in rangeland management from Texas Tech University in 1986, he had no idea that his job would one day take him around the world.

Groundwater researcher and engineer Dr. Gretchen Miller wants to know how to balance the water resources needs of people, the economy and the planet.

When he was 12 years old, Dr. Rusty Feagin moved to Seabrook, a city along the Texas coast surrounded by industrial development. It was then that Feagin began to consider the importance of coastal health. “Living there brought environmental issues to the forefront of my mind,” Feagin said.

Although she began as a pre-law student at Texas A&M University, Dr. Cristine Morgan quickly realized her passion for soil science and made a career out of it. “When I had to sit down and make a choice about what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life, I decided on soil science,” she said.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller became fascinated by natural science at an early age. “As a child, I liked the outdoors, and I liked animals,” he said. “I grew up in a rural area playing outside in the woods and meadows, especially streams.”

When you hear the word “scientist” most likely the image that comes to mind is of someone in a lab coat with test tubes and beakers. While this is true of some scientists, there are many others who do not fit that image. This is especially true of natural resource scientists. To showcase the diversity within this community of researchers, Conservation Matters is beginning a series called “Meet a Scientist.”