Wasatch Front Air, Water Quality Concerns Topic of April 1 Sunrise Session
What: USU Sunrise Session Research Breakfast, “Air and Water Quality Concerns along the Wasatch Front: Science for Sustainability”
Speaker: Michelle Baker, Professor of Biology
When: Friday, April 1, 7:30-9 a.m.
Where: Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main, Salt Lake City (*Note venue change)
Utah’s projected population will nearly double in the next generation, creating more demand for water, energy and other resources, especially along the Wasatch Front where much of Utah’s population resides. At the same time, Utah’s water resources face an uncertain future in light of climate change.
Utah State University biology professor Michelle Baker will address this phenomenon to those gathered at the quarterly Sunrise Session presentation.
“Airborne particulates — both natural and of human origin — negatively impact air quality in urban areas along the Wasatch Front,” said Baker. “Evidence is growing that these particulates can exacerbate nutrient loading, as well as alter when snow melts and how long droughts last in mountain ecosystems.”
Utah is the second driest state in the nation behind Nevada, Baker said.
Baker is part of the iUTAH project, an interdisciplinary consortium of social and environmental scientists and engineers from USU, the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
Baker holds a bachelor’s in biology from Lafayette College and a doctorate in biology with a hydrogeology minor from the University of New Mexico. She is an ecosystem ecologist, whose research program focuses on processes that control nutrient transport and retention in streams and rivers, including the effects of land use on these processes. Current studies investigate biological and hydrological factors that affect nutrient transport in rivers, how stream network configuration affects nitrogen cycling and how ecological tools can assist with development of nutrient criteria for streams.
She has authored or co-authored 40 journal articles and given 15 invited presentations. She serves as associate editor for the Journal of the North American Benthological Society and served on the executive committee of the North American Benthological Society, the premier international organization for stream and river ecology. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and by the State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
To RSVP to the Sunrise Session, call 801-961-1340 or respond online.
Contact: USU Vice President for Research Office, 435-797-1180
USU biology professor Michelle Baker presents at the April 1 USU Sunrise Session Research Breakfast and will discuss air and water quality concerns along the Wasatch Front.
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