primary research theme: water resources
Problems of water scarcity and water quality are widespread and of growing concern. The environmental and financial costs of water resource development greatly limit traditional structural solutions to water scarcity. Yet population and economic growth continue to increase the demand for clean water. Societal interest in protecting high quality water resources has increased greatly, but water pollution from both non-point and point sources threatens existing as well as future uses. Meanwhile, changes in quality and quantity of water resources are accelerating due to shifts in population and land use, changes in energy, water and material resource use, and human-induced climate change.
The mission of the Penn State Institutes of the Environment is to expand Penn State's capacity to pursue the newest frontiers in environmental research by encouraging cooperation across disciplines and the participation of local, state, federal, and international stakeholders. Regarding water issues, our goal is to address issues that affect the quantity, quality, and distribution of water. Faculty research in water is carried out in different colleges, departments and institutes at Penn State. The following is a list of disciplines in water science and some of the faculty, courses and research that relate to each of the disciplinary areas.
- Atmospheric Water
- Surface Water
- Subsurface Water
- Water Resource Development
- Biogeochemistry
- Engineered Systems
- Geospatial Technology and Cyberinfrastructure
The integration of research among these 6 disciplines (above) leads to understanding of complex water-related issues such as Chesapeake Bay eutrophication and environmental change (climate, hydrologic, landscape, populations). Examples are provided below of research issues for which current research projects currently involve faculty from several academic departments.
- Integrative Large-scale Hydrology: Coupled Atmospheric and Terrestrial System
- Air-water Interactions
- Surface Water / Ground Water Interactions
- Plot-hillslope-Reach-Basin scale processes and feedbacks
- Modeling/Prediction/Uncertainty
- Climate Change Impacts
- Biogeochemistry
- Nutrients and Sediment– Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy
- Impacts of Land-use / Landcover Change and Ecosystem Disturbances
- Ecosystems – Function and Change
- Environmental Assessment and Indicators
- Buffer Zones Function and Management
- Policy
- Nutrient Trading
- In-stream flows
- Environmental Ethics
- Sustainability
- Engineered Water Systems
- Storm Water Management
- Conjunctive Use
- Reuse/wastewater/potable H2O (Drinking Water Treatment & Distribution; Wastewater Collection and Treatment)
- Energy Issues
- Toxics
- Genetic Engineering
- Long-term Monitoring
- Sensors/Sensor Networks
- GIS tools, others
- Trend Detection
- Remote Sensing/Model Assimilation
- Hydroinformatics/Cyberinfrastructure