AOSC Seminar by Dr. Amy Rebecca Sapkota, 10/26/2023
AOSC Seminar
Dr. Amy Rebecca Sapkota
University of Maryland School of Public Health
Title:
Reimagining Solutions to Address Emerging Contaminants in Recycled Irrigation Water
Abstract:
Climate change, population growth, urbanization and other factors are contributing to a growing global freshwater crisis that is exacerbating agricultural water scarcity and compromising food security and public health. As a result, it is increasingly important to embrace the use of recycled irrigation water sources, which can alleviate pressures on important freshwater resources such as groundwater. However, recycled water sources likely require additional water treatment technologies to remove microbiological and chemical contaminants that may be harmful to food safety and public health. In this talk, Dr. Sapkota will share findings generated from the CONSERVE Center regarding the evaluation of emerging microbial and chemical contaminants in recycled irrigation water. She will also discuss the development and implementation of novel, decentralized technologies that can remove these contaminants and ensure the safe use of recycled water sources on irrigated food crops.
Bio:
Dr. Sapkota is an MPower Professor and Director of the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. She is also the Director of CONSERVE: A Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food & Health, and the Principal Investigator of the UMD Global STEWARDS (STEM Training at the Nexus of Energy, WAter Reuse and FooD Systems) National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program. Most recently, Dr. Sapkota successfully led a multi-national team in the UMD Grand Challenges Institutional Grant competition and was awarded a new $3 million grant to launch the Global FEWture Alliance.
Dr. Sapkota received a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the Yale School of Public Health, and a BS in Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She completed her post-doc with the Environmental Microbial Genomics Group at Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Lyon, France). In 2017, she represented the Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program and the United States as a Fulbright Senior Researcher in Chitwan, Nepal. Dr. Sapkota’s research focuses on ensuring the safety of agricultural and municipal water reuse and understanding the impact of environmental microbial exposures on the human microbiome.
Contact: Russ Dickerson
If you are not subscribed to seminar announcements and need a link to this online seminar please contact aosc-helper. You can also subscribe to weekly links and announcements below.
AOSC Seminar
Pre-seminar refreshment: N/A
Seminar: 3:30-4:30pm, Room: ATL 2400(only when in-person)
Meet-the-Speaker: 4:30-5:00pm, Room: ATL 3400(only when in-person) [For AOSC Students only]
[ Subscribe to receive seminar announcements | Email aosc-deptseminar@umd.edu to give a seminar ]