← LeaderboardsInvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Stroud Water Research Center Inc
$1,799,271
Total funding
3
Grants
Funding over time
peak $1.3M · FY2020–24$2M$1.5M$1M$500K$0
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
Funding mix
By agency
USDA$1,799,271 · 3
By mechanism
—$1,799,271 · 3
Investigators at Stroud Water Research Center Inc
InvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Exposure= the full size of every grant they're on ($1M each).
Rising Stars
First grant in the last 5 yrs
Not enough data
Emerging Leaders
6–10 yrs in
Not enough data
All-Time
Most funded here, all years
Not enough data
Largest grants
** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** HEALTH SOILS ARE CRITICAL TO SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. CURRENTLY, A VARIETY OF CONSERVATIVE FARMING PRACTICES ARE APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE SOILS TO PROMOTE SOIL HELATH. COVER CROPPING IS ONE OF THE MOST COMMONLY USED APPROACH. HOWEVER, A MAJOR KNOWLEDGE GAP IS THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING COVER CROPPING AND THE TIME THAT IT TAKES FOR POSITIVE EFFECTS TO BECOME NOTICEABLE. IN THIS PROJECT, OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW COVER CROPPING MODULATES SOIL HEALTH, CROP PERFORMANCE, AND MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES. BY APPLYING A SPACE-FOR-TIME APPROACH AND CONTROL-TREATMENT PAIRED DESIGN, WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE TIME SCALES AT WHICH COVER CROPPING CASCADES INTO MICROBIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (MAINLY OF BACTERIA, ARCHAEA AND FUNGI), THE ASSOCIATED NUTRIENT PROCESSING INCLUDING CARBON AND NITROGEN, SOIL HEALTH, AND CROP YIELDS.THE KEY QUESTIONS WE TRY TO ANSWER HERE ARE: HOW DO COVER CROPPING ALTER MICROBIAL COMPOSITION, SOIL HEALTH, AND CROP PERFORMANCE? AND AT WHAT TIME SCALES DO THESE EFFECTS MANIFEST? ARE SOIL HEALTH INDICES REFLECTIVE OF MICROBIAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, AND DO RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THESE MEASURES VARY THROUGH TIME? WE WILL PARTINER WITH 48 FARMS (24 PAIRED FIELDS EACH YEAR FOR 2 YEARS) IN PENNSYLVANIA WITH TIME SINCE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSERVATION PRACTICE RANGING 0-15+ YEARS. WE WILL (1) CHARACTERIZE DETAILED COMPOSITIONS OF SOIL MICROORGANISMS SUCH AS BACTERIA, ARCHAEA AND FUNGI; (2) MEASURE NITROGEN AND CARBON PROCESSES AND DYNAMICS WITH COVER CROPS IMPLEMENTED IN DIFFERENT DURATION OF YEARS; AND (3) SUTDY THE HOW COVER CROPPING IMPACT SOIL HEALTH MEASUREMENTS AND CROP PERFORMANCE. THIS STUDY WILL PROVIDE ROBUST INFORMATIONON HOW COVER CROPPING CONTRIBUTES TO IMPROVEMENT OF MICROBIAL SOIL HEALTH AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. LESSONS FROM THIS STUDY WILL BE TRANSFERABLE TO A BROADER AGRICULTURE AUDIENCE AND FARMING COMMUNITIES. THIS STUDY WILL SUPPORT THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF FOUR RESEARCHERS (TWO SENIOR AND TWO JUNIOR), ONE SOIL HEALTH COORDINATOR, FIVE TECHNICIANS, AND MULTIPLE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS.$650,000
· FY2024 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture
** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THE GOALOF THIS PROJECTIS TO STUDYHOW THE USE OF BIOSOLIDSMAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEGRADATION OFWATER QUALITY IN AGROECOSYSTEMS. BIOSOLIDS, DERIVED FROM THE SOLID ORGANIC WASTE REMOVED AT WATER TREATMENT PLANTS,ARE A VERY VALUABLE SOIL AMENDMENT, HOWEVER, THEY CAN BE CONTAMINATED WITHPFAS (PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES), A CLASS OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS THAT CAN BE HARMFUL TO HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT. THEREFORE, THEIR USE IN FARMSCAN RESULT IN THE CONTAMINATION OF SOILS,WATER AND FOOD. OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS, WE WILL STUDY THE TRANSPORT AND TRANSFORMATION OF BIOSOLID-DERIVED PFAS IN SOILS AND RIVERS USINGACOMBINATION OF LABORATORY AND FIELD EXPERIMENTS. WE WILL ATTEMPT TO ANSWER THEFOLLOWING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS: Q1. WHAT ARE TEMPORAL DYNAMICS DRIVING CONCENTRATION AND FLUXES OF PFAS IN BIOSOLID-TREATED SOILS AND THE AGRO-FLUVIAL SYSTEMS DRAINING THEM?, Q2. HOW ARE PFAS DYNAMICS IN FLUVIAL SYSTEMS RELATED TO ORGANIC MATTER CONCENTRATION AND CHEMICAL CHARACTER?, AND Q3. HOW DO TEMPERATURE REGIMES AFFECT THE EXPORT OF PFAS FROM BIOSOLID-TREATED SOILS TO THE HYDROLOGIC NETWORK?OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH HAS BROAD RELEVANCE TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS AND REGULATORS; OUTCOMES OF OUR WORK WILL INFORM BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT TO MINIMIZE RISKS TO AGROECOSYSTEM HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY. EFFECTIVELY AND SAFELY MANAGING BIOSOLIDS AS A SOIL AMENDMENT IS VITAL TO ENSURING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIES.$649,372
· FY2024 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture
NUTRIENT EXPORT FROM RIVER WATERSHEDS IS LARGELY DEPENDENT ON SEDIMENT PLUMES OCCURRING DURING STORMFLOW EVENTS. AND YET, BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENT REMOVAL WITHIN AND DURING SEDIMENT PLUMES HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED AND UNDERSTUDIED. SEDIMENT PLUMES MOBILIZE LARGE AMOUNTS OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS PROVIDING EXTENSIVE SURFACE AREA FOR MICROBIAL ACTIVITY, AND THUS OMISSION OF BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENT REMOVAL IN SEDIMENT PLUMES MAY HAVE SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON OUR MODELED ESTIMATIONS OF WATERSHED NUTRIENT EXPORT TO COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS. HERE, WE PROPOSE TO ASSESS BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN (N) REMOVAL (DENITRIFICATION) IN SEDIMENT PLUMES AND ITS POTENTIAL INFLUENCES ON WATERSHED NITROGEN EXPORT. TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL WE HAVE DESIGNED A THREE-STEP PROCESS COMBINING LABORATORY MESOCOSMS, REACH-SCALE MONITORING, AND WATERSHED MODELING APPROACHES. FIRST, LIMITING FACTORS OF DENITRIFICATION RATES IN SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS WILL BE EVALUATED IN MESOCOSMS. THEN, RESULTS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM MESOCOSMS EXPERIMENTATION WILLBE EMPLOYED TO MEASURE AMBIENT RATES OF DENITRIFICATION IN SEDIMENT PLUMES THROUGHOUT MULTIPLE STORMFLOW EVENTS AND LCOATIONS. TOTAL N LOSS BY DENITRIFICATION IN SEDIMENT PLUMES WILL BE SCALED UP PER STORM EVENT AND WATERSHED AREA AND COMPARED TO THE AMOUNT OF N EXPORTED. FINALLY, PREDICTIVE REGRESSION RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS (E.G., TURBIDITY, TEMPERATURE, PARTICLE SIZE) AND AMBIENT DENITRIFICATION RATES WILL BE EVALUATED AND TESTED TO ASSESS THEIR VALIDITY AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR MODELLING N PROCESSES. WE BELIEVE THIS RESEARCH CAN HELP IMPROVE THE CHARACTERIZATION OF NUTRIENT PROCESSES IN MANAGEMENT MODELS BY BETTER QUANTIFICATION OF NUTRIENT AND SEDIMENT LOADINGS ALLOWING BETTER DECISION MAKING IN TERMS OF WHERE TO PLACE BMPS IN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS.$499,899
· FY2020 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture