Merryl Alber (Marine Sciences)
malber@uga.edu
(706) 542-5966

Dr. Merryl Alber is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at UGA, where she teaches courses in Marine Biology, Marine Ecology, and Coastal Marine Policy. Her research is focused on the marine ecology of nearshore environments, and includes studies of estuarine food webs; analyses of the impacts of freshwater withdrawal on coastal systems; models of estuarine flushing times; studies of the biological characteristics and fate of suspended sediments in estuaries; and investigations of human impacts on the coastal zone. She is also actively involved in efforts to improve communication between scientists and coastal policy makers, and coordinates the Georgia Coastal Research Council. Dr. Alber has served as an expert peer reviewer for the South Florida Water Management District in their efforts to establish minimum flow criteria for estuaries and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Georgia Comprehensive Water Plan Study Committee. She is also a panel member for an ongoing Heinz Center study of Coastal Management Performance Measures and Indicators. Dr. Alber received a B.S. in Botany/Zoology from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the Boston University Marine Program.

To learn more about Dr. Alber and her current research efforts visit her website at http://www.marsci.uga.edu/Department_page/Profiles/
malber.htm

back to top

back to top

John Drake (Odum School of Ecology)
jdrake@uga.edu
(706) 583-5539

John Drake is Assistant Professor in the School of Ecology. His work includes basic and applied ecology and ecological epidemiology with mathematical models, experimental laboratory systems and a wide range of computational and statistical methods. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

back to top

David Gattie (Biological and Agricultural Engineering)
dgattie@engr.uga.edu
(706) 542-0880

David K. Gattie is an Assistant Professor in UGA's Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Dr. Gattie has over 15 years of experience in environmental studies and the assessment of environmental systems integrity. In particular, his work has focused on chemical fate and transport within aquatic systems, comprehensive watershed assessments, water quality and biological assessments using benthic macroinvertebrate and fish as indicators. Much of his work has been to ascertain the relationship of land use and physical habitat with in-stream biological processes. He has worked with private consultants and local governments to conduct recently mandated watershed assessments associated with NPDES permits. He is the author of 31 scientific articles and reports in his field of study and has also been called upon to work with international agencies to assist in watershed assessments in Ecuador. His background includes a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering and a Ph.D. in Ecology, both from the University of Georgia. He is currently serving on the Technical Advisory committee the State of Georgia's Joint Senate/House Comprehensive Water Plan Study Committee, is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, and a founding member of the American Ecological Engineering Society.

back to top

Jeff Mullen (Agricultural and Applied Economics)
jmullen@agecon.uga.edu
(706) 542-0767

Jeff Mullen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. His research interests include production and environmental economics, solutions to scarcity with respect to water quantity and quality, interface between water quality and quantity, modeling irrigation technology and water use decisions, climate change and water demand. limitations and prospects of water markets, brownfield redevelopment, non-market amenity values of marshlands, production economics and policy, and natural resources and environmental economics. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.

Cathy Pringle (Odum School of Ecology)
cpringle@uga.edu
(706) 542-1120

Cathy Pringle is on the graduate faculty of the Odum School of Ecology, where she teaches a course in watershed conservation. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Her research interests include aquatic ecology; conservation biology; nutrient cycling; algae-invertebrate-fish interactions; tropical ecology; aquatic habitat restoration; and the effects of environmental problems on the ecology of aquatic ecosystems. She is especially interested in 1) linkages between species and ecosystem processes in streams and discriminating between trophic and hydrologic controls; 2) linking basic research activities with management and policy issues; 3) conservation biology from a watershed perspective; and 4) environmental outreach.

back to top

David Radcliffe (Crop & Soil Sciences)
dradclif@uga.edu
(706) 542-0897

Dr. Radcliffe's work has focused on phosphorous and bacteria loading to streams from agricultural sources. Phosphorus can cause eutrophication of streams and lakes and result in carcinogenic byproducts when lake water is treated with chlorine. Bacteria can produce a number of human illnesses when untreated water is ingested. Dr. Radcliffe's main interest is in using models to better understand how these contaminants move through the environment. Models are especially useful in this case since agriculture is a "non-point source" of pollution, that is it is distributed across the landscape and the exact input is difficult to measure. A new development in modeling is the use of watershed-scale models that are coupled with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.

back to top

Todd Rasmussen (Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources/Water Resources Certificate Program)
trasmuss@uga.edu
(706) 542-4300

Todd Rasmussen is an Associate Professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. His areas of research include watershed management, erosion and sedimentation, wetland restoration, and fluid flow and solute transport through surface and subsurface environments. He received his Ph.D. in Hydrology from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

back to top

Mark Risse (Biological and Agricultural Engineering/Cooperative Extension)
mrisse@engr.uga.edu
(706) 542-9067

Mark Risse is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. His research interests inlcude Georgia's agricultural pollution prevention program, the Cooperative Extension water quality program, and animal waste management.

Bob Shulstad, ex officio (Associate Dean for Research, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
shulstad@uga.edu
(706) 542-2151

Robert N. Shulstad is the Associate Dean for Research and the Coordinator of Environmental Sciences for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Prior to his current administrative post, he taught and conducted research in Applied Microeconomic Theory, Agribusiness Finance and Rural Land Appraisal, and from 1987 until 1997, he was the Head of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. He was also Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Arkansas, where he taught agricultural economics, research methodogy, and a course in the economics of environmental management. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Agricultural Economics at the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics from Oregon State University.

Bill Tollner (Biological and Agricultural Engineering)
btollner@engr.uga.edu
(706) 542-3047

Bill Tollner is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. His research interests inlcude ecological process engineering; X-Ray scanning for visualizing and quantifying soils and biological materials and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry for quantifying soil-water; and developing bioconversion approaches enabling use of waste streams and byproducts in resource conservation.

R. Alfred Vick (Environmental Design)
ravick@uga.edu
(706) 542-6550

Alfie Vick is an Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Design. His areas of specialization include stormwater management, stream restoration, ecologically-based design and construction, ecological restoration, invasive plant issues, and the LEED program. He received his MLA from the University of Georgia.

The Honorable Pierre Howard (Ecology)

Pierre Howard served as Georgia's Lieutenant Governor from 1990 - 1998, having previously served in the Georgia Senate. He received his undergraduate and his J.D. from the University of Georgia. He is a Senior Public Service Associate on the faculty of the Odum School of Ecology.

Judy L. Meyer (Ecology)

Dr. Judy Meyer is Distinguished Research Professor Emerita in the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. She holds a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Michigan, a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Hawaii, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Cornell University. A member of the faculty at UGA since 1977, she is an aquatic ecologist who has published over 125 scientific papers on her research on rivers and streams in Georgia and North Carolina. Her research has focused on ecological processes that maintain water quality, on river and stream food webs, and on the impact of watershed disturbance and riparian zone management on river and stream ecosystems.

Dr. Meyer has served as Vice-president and as President of the Ecological Society of America, the national organization for professional ecologists. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Scientific Society Presidents. Her research received a Creative Research Medal from the University of Georgia Research Foundation. She has been appointed to numerous committees of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council including the Water Science and Technology Board. Dr. Meyer currently serves on the Committee on Improving the National Water Quality Assessment Program of the U.S.G.S. She is a member of the work group designing a Report on the Condition of Nation's Freshwater Ecosystems, sponsored by the H.J. Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington D.C. A past member of the Water Resources Assessment Group of the National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, Dr, Meyer was also elected as a U.S. National Representative to the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology. She serves as Chair of the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of American Rivers, a national river conservation organization, and is also on its Board of Directors. She is also Chair of the Education and Science Advisory Committee of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and is on its Board of Directors. She is on the Board of a local conservation organization, Georgia Land Trust Service Center.

Dr. Meyer's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Turner Foundation. She has been Principal Investigator of a NSF-sponsored Long-term Ecological Research site at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, studying long-term changes in Southern Appalachian forests and streams in response to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. She has done extensive research on food webs of Georgia's Coastal Plain rivers, especially the Ogeechee River. Current funded research focuses on urban rivers (with a focus on the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries), impacts of lawn care practices on stream ecosystems, nitrogen cycling in rivers, impacts of excessive sedimentation on aquatic biota, importance of decaying leaves and woody debris in stream ecosystems, effects of changes in riparian buffer designations for Georgia's trout streams, and long-term studies of causes and consequences of land-use change in the Southern Appalachians.

Dr. Meyer has served as major advisor for 10 M.S. students, 11 Ph.D. students, and has served on the advisory committees of 29 M.S. and 60 Ph.D. students. Eleven post-doctoral researchers have worked in her lab. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in limnology, stream ecology, and environmental literacy.