Our research focuses on sustaining the region known as America's Breadbasket, which feeds the U.S. and world.

We are investigating engineering and socioeconomic innovations to conserve water, create renewable energy, and help rural communities thrive.

All our research teams are inter-disciplinary

THEME 1: Innovations for soil, water and microbial systems in the face of drought

THEME 2: Hydrologic science and water conservation systems for efficient food production

THEME 3: Anaerobic bioreactors to transform animal waste into usable energy/water/fertilizer

Research Theme 1:Use heat transfer to predict/alter evaporation and microfluidics to determine the impacts of drought stress on microbes.
Representative examples of projects in this theme include: 

• "The impact of removing end guns from center pivot irrigation systems in the 5th Ground Water Management District"
• "Estimating the natural capital asset price of soil carbon"
• "Investigating the impact of the bacterial inoculants on increased water retention and breakdown of water repellency of agricultural soils in Kansas" 

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Research Theme 2: Understand the complex engineering, social, and economic systems of the Ogallala Aquifer. 
Representative examples of projects in this theme include: 

• "Analyzing seasonal and annual soil moisture trends throughout the great plains region" ​
• "Examining the environmental and social influences on farmers’ decision-making in the Ogallala Aquifer region" 
• “Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Improve Center Pivot Irrigation Scheduling”
• "Examining human-environment interactions in Kansas and the Great Plains over time"

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Research Theme 3: Engineer an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor and understand the social and economic barriers to implementing in farms. 
Representative examples of projects in this theme include: 

• "Recovery of Phosphorus Using Calcium Precipitation from Treated Swine Wastewater Effluent"
• "Recovery and valorization of Dissolved Methane from treated Wastewater under ambient temperature conditions using novel physical and biological approaches"​
• "Using Fluorometry to Identify Organic Precursors in Surface Water and Treated Wastewater that Trigger Algal Blooms"