Task Force Members
Frank J. Calzonetti
Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development & Task Force Chair
Office of Research & Sponsored Programs
Dr. Calzonetti's research focus has included facility location analysis, resources and energy facilities, and regional economic development.
April Ames
Assistant Professor
School of Population Health | College of Health & Human Services
Dr. Ames expertise is in exposure and risk assessment in public health and is a certified industrial hygienist. Her current research interests are focused on recreational and occupational effects related to harmful algal blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie and chemical exposure assessment.
Defne Apul
Chair & Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Apul's research is on modeling the environmental sustainability and resiliency of the water infrastructure using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing tools. She has calculated the energy, greenhouse gas emissions and cost implications for the operations of Collins Park Water Treatment and Bay View Wastewater Treatment plants.
Thomas Bridgeman
Director, Lake Erie Center
Professor Department of Environmental Sciences | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Bridgeman's laboratory has specific expertise in the monitoring and biology of harmful algal blooms Western Lake Erie. General expertise in lake physics, chemistry and ecology. Member of the First Ohio Phosphorus Task Force addressing the connection between watershed phosphorus loading and algal blooms. Some microcystin toxin testing experience.
Ritu Chakravarti
Assistant Professor Laboratory of Autoimmunity & Cytokine Signaling|College of Medicine
and Life Sciences
Kevin Czajkowski
Director, Center for Geographic Information Sciences and Applied Geographics
Professor Department of Geography & Planning | College of Arts & Letters
Dr. Czajkowski's research interests are diverse and all revolve around geospatial technologies. Dr. Czajkowski uses GIS and remote sensing technologies to assess sources of non-point source pollution in the Maumee River watershed and Lake Erie through the Maumee River GIS and the Lake Erie Center. His laboratory develops land cover classifications using remote sensing linking that to wetlands in the watershed.
Kennedy Doro
Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Services | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Doro's research interests include using geophysical methods in combination with hydrological and in-situ technologies for investigating hydrogeophysics, environmental geophysics and in-situ technologies. His expertise includes measuring shallow groundwater flows using geophysical methods.
Kevin Egan
Professor Environmental Economics | College of Arts and Letters
Tim Fisher
Professor Department of Environmental Sciences | College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Dr. Fisher is a geologist specializing in geomorphology, glacial and quaternary geology and quaternary history of the Great Lakes.
Anju Gupta
Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Gupta has research expertise in designing dispersants for oil spill mitigation and has worked on life assessment of carbon nanomaterials and fire-retardant, antibiotics in the Great Lakes region. She also has research interests involving desalination and water recovery.
Steven Haller
Co-Director, Women & Philanthropy Genetic Analysis Center
Assistant Professor Department of Medicine | College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Dr. Haller is an expert on kidney function and hypertension as well as on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and relationships between microcystin and hepatotoxicity.
William Hintz
Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Sciences | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Hintz research and teaching interests include freshwater ecology and conservation, invasive species, fish and fisheries, and environmental pollution and policy.
Jason Huntley
Director, BSL3/A-BSL3 Laboratory
Associate Professor Department Medical Microbiology & Immunology | College of Medicine
& Life Sciences
Dr. Huntley's lab is broadly interested in identifying and understanding the roles of bacterial virulence factors in human disease. Although the Lake Erie microcystin toxin (MC-LR) problem presents unique challenges, the Huntley lab is isolating and selecting for naturally-occurring lake bacteria that degrade MC-LR, characterizing the enzymatic pathways that degrade MC-LR, and developing new MC-LR removal technologies such as biofilters.
Dragan Isailovic
Professor Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Isailovic’s lab is developing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methodologies to identify and quantify algal toxins in water. Our state-of-the-art LC-MS system enables separation, structural analysis, and quantification of microcystins by LC-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The methodologies developed will be used for quantification of toxins in water, to test purification of water containing low amounts of microcystins, and to analyze toxins and their byproducts in biological samples.
Dae-Wook Kang
Assistant Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Kang's research interests are understanding how microbes interact with natural environment, environmental engineering system, and human host. He has expertise on human microbiome and environmental biotechnologies including high-throughput DNA/RNA sequencing, multi-omic analyses, and bioinformatics.
David Kennedy
Co-Director, Women & Philanthropy Genetic Analysis Center
Associate Professor Department of Medicine | College of Medicine & Life Sciences
The Kennedy laboratory studies adaptive and maladaptive counter-regulatory mechanisms involved in organ damage and fibrosis resulting from various toxic insults (such as those associated with harmful algal blooms) in at-risk patient populations with heart, kidney or liver disease. The lab is also focused on identifying novel molecular targets which can be used for diagnostic, therapeutic and preventative strategies to improve outcomes in these vulnerable patient populations.
Patrick Lawrence
Chair & Professor Department of Geography & Planning | College of Arts & Letters
Dr. Lawrence's research interests water quality, watershed management, Great Lakes Areas of Concern, land use change, wetland conservation, coastal planning, Great Lakes water levels, and public policy development concerning parks and protected areas.
Glenn Lipscomb
Professor Department of Chemical Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Lipscomb is an expert in membranes and their performance. He is particularly interested in membranes for water filtration and reverse osmosis systems.
Christine Mayer
Professor Department of Chemical Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Lipscomb is an expert in membranes and their performance. He is particularly interested in membranes for water filtration and reverse osmosis systems.
Bill Messer
Professor Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics | College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Messer's area of research focuses on the development of new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.
Diane Miller
Chief of Staff and Vice President, Government Relations
Diane M. Miller serves as a liaison to internal and external communities and directs the University's Office of Government Relations, overseeing the federal relations, state relations, local relations and community engagement activities. She works to advance the University's federal research portfolio, aligning university research strengths to opportunities, highlighting activities surrounding the environment, clean water and renewable energy, including international outreach, and several special projects. Miller also serves as a Commissioner on the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, a gubernatorial appointment, since March 2021.
Youngwoo Seo
Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Seo's research focuses on biological and chemical contaminant removal in water treatment and distribution systems as well as developing environmental sensors. Currently working on three different water projects studying micropollutant removal and detection supported by the national science foundation and the US EPA. He also serves the City of Toledo Water Treatment Plant (capacity improvement) as a proposal reviewer/ technical expert and as a consultant for the City of Monroe MI Water Treatment Plant.
Trisha Spanbauer
Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Sciences | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Spanbauer graduated with her Ph.D. from The University of Nebraska. Her research areas of interest include paleolimnology, aquatic ecology, environmental DNA, ancient sedimentary DNA, phycology, and ecosystem resilience and abrupt change.
Sridar Viamajala
Professor Department of Chemical Engineering | College of Engineering
Dr. Viamajala's research interests algal biofuels and lignocellulose-derived biofuels.
Michael Weintraub
Professor Department of Environmental Sciences | College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Dr. Weintraub is a professor of soil ecology. His research and teaching areas of interests include soil ecology, ecosystem ecology, plant-soil interactions, biogeochemistry and arctic ecology.
Content after: select and edit or delete