People

Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, Associate Professor

Research Interests: Urban ecology, green infrastructure, biogeochemistry, ecosystem services, social-ecological systems

Current Lab Members

Graduate Students

Rahat Sharif, PhD Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Rahat is interested in the connections between the design and function for multifunctionality  and ecosystem services of green infrastructure.  She is exploring differences between concepts, goals, and practice among landscape architects, engineers, and planners, and how different green infrastructure installations process C and N due to differences in design and goals.

Sarah Ponte Cabral, PhD Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Sarah is studying how management of trees influences their function as a stormwater mitigation approach.

Matthew Wilfong, PhD Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Matthew is studying how different designs of green infrastructure treatment trains affect their ability to reduce N, P, and sediment loadings.

Qianyao Si, PhD Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland. My research interests are toward evaluation the functions of GI and SCMs, such as contaminant removal and runoff reduction,  and their impacts on the natural water bodies over time and space in urban settings.

Emily Keener, MS Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

My interests are in urban soil ecology and hydrology, ecosystem services, and environmental justice. I am working on evaluating the impact of soil amendment practices on soil quality properties that best support urban tree growth in vacant lots in Baltimore, MD.

Ruth Shatkay, MS Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Ruth is looking at how variation in forest patch structure and plant invasions in Baltimore, MD affects energetic inputs by analyzing a series of canopy photographs.

Mairead Whitford Jones, 4+1 BS/MS Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Mairead is studying how existing green infrastructure designs will need to be altered to adapt to changes in precipitation from climate change.

Elad Shdaimah, 4+1 BS/MS Candidate, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Elad is looking at how invasive plant species (English Ivy) affects carbon and nitrogen cycling in forest patches in Baltimore, MD.

Dania Khan, Summer Research Opportunities Program and Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates Fellow from Perdue University, Summer 2021

Elad is looking at how invasive plant species (English Ivy) affects carbon and nitrogen cycling in forest patches in Baltimore, MD.

Lab Alumni

Leila Mosleh, PhD, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Leila is studying how stakeholder preferences influence the supply and demand of green infrastructure ecosystem services in Tucson, AZ. She’s also building a tool to assess climate resilience of green infrastructure for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Hannah Boone, MS, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Thesis: Evaluating the effectiveness and uptake of riparian buffer restoration practices

Hannah is interested in the nexus of ecosystem health and natural resource management with a focus on ecological restoration. She is working on a project to improve regional outreach and outcomes of riparian forest buffers in the Chesapeake watershed, looking at outreach methods that improve landowner adoption of natural filters practices alongside an evaluation of the ecological outcomes of those restored buffers

Tuana Phillips, MS, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Thesis: Ecohydrology and stormwater ecosystem services of urban forest patches.

My interests are in ecosystem services of green infrastructure, urban ecohydrology, biogeochemistry, and watershed management.  I am working on measuring elements of water balance for urban forest patches in Baltimore and Montgomery County, MD to assess how urban tree canopy can reduce stormwater runoff.

Emma Giese, MS, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland

Thesis topic: Stormwater BMP climate resilience in the Anacostia Watershed.

I am calibrating the USDA Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to local conditions in the Breewood catchment (within the Anacostia Watershed) using stream monitoring data and stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) data. I will then use the calibrated SWAT model to evaluate how resilient BMP implementation is to changing climate conditions.

Darin Kopp, PhD candidate in Watershed Management and Ecohydrology, currently graduate student at ASU

Angela Knerl – MS in Watershed Management and Ecohydrology – Thesis: Conceptual modeling and quantification of green infrastructure in drylands for the improvement and design of ecosystem services– currently research technician with US-EPA

Moira Hough – MS in Watershed Management & Ecohydrology – Thesis: Tracing environmental change from plant traits to social-ecological systems on the San Pedro River – currently PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

David Chan – MS in Watershed Management and Ecohydrology – Thesis: Using ecosystem services to understand the impact of land cover change: a case study of the upper San Pedro watershed – currently GIS technician for
Kentucky DEQ

Former Visiting Scholars

Haoliang Lu, Associate Professor, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University.

Pollution ecology, rhizosphere ecology, environmental biology

Former Undergraduate Researchers

Jenni Hedin, UMD Capstone Student

Taylor Brinks, UMD Capstone Student

Robert Wilbur, UMD Capstone Student

Devin Bracey, Summer Research Opportunities Program Fellow from Lincoln University

Willford Briggs, Undergraduate Research Intern from Alabama A&M

Chelsea Stern, REU from SUNY-ESF

Rafael Chávez, REU from Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara

Ben Bossler, Honors Students from University of Arizona

Catie DeMets, REU from Lawrence University

Sophia Liu, REU from Wellesley College

Melissa McKinley, REU from Northern Arizona University

Sara Kovachich, REU from University of Florida

Genna Gallas, Honors Student from University of Arizona

Christine Sookhdeo, REU from RIder University