International water expert Dr. Joan B. Rose, winner of the 2016 Stockholm Water Prize, will speak April 3 at Texas A&M University in College Station and April 4 at the Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth as part of the fifth annual Water Lecture Speaker Series, Perspectives on Law and Policy.
Rose, a Michigan State University professor and an expert in water microbiology, water quality and public health safety, will lecture on “Linking Animal and Human Pollution Sources to the Landscape” at 2:30 p.m. in the Koldus Building, room 110.
She will address “Water Quality and Health Challenges and Solutions” at noon in the School of Law’s Conference Center on the second floor.
According to Rose’s abstract for her College Station lecture, understanding water quality at a large scale is essential to future investments for protection and restoration. Rose will talk about her research on fecal pollution sources at the watershed scale and water quality across the entire lower peninsula of Michigan, using a new technology that allows greater precision, droplet digital PCR. Results identified nonpoint sources including septic tanks and animal manure and showed a relatively high number of sites contaminated with human and bovine markers. For a detailed abstract of her lecture, visit the Water Daze website.
At her Fort Worth lecture, Rose will discuss that even though America’s drinking water is safe and of high quality most of the time and in most places, long-term, national drinking water challenges must be addressed. According to her abstract, the aging infrastructure, in particular, is in increasing need of repair and modernization. Developing water diagnostics to address issues from the source to the tap are needed to improve knowledge and policies. Read a detailed abstract for her Law school lecture.
The College Station talk is in conjunction with the Water Daze student poster competition, hosted by Texas A&M’s Water Management and Hydrological Science (WMHS) program (See the Water Daze story.).
Rose holds the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research at Michigan State University in the Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Plant, Soil and Microbiological Science. She currently leads the Global Water Pathogens Project in partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO. She has published more than 300 manuscripts. Her work addresses the study of viruses, source tracking markers and protozoa in the water environment; use of new molecular tools for surveying and mapping water pollution for recreational and drinking water, irrigation water, and coastal and ballast waters; assessment of innovative water treatment technology for the developed and developing world; and use of quantitative microbial risk assessment.
The lectures and Water Daze student competition are sponsored by the WMHS program, the Texas Water Resources Institute, the Texas A&M University School of Law and the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
