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Email: outreach@OKH2O.org

Address: Carson Engineering Center

Room 303

202 W. Boyd Street

Norman, OK 73019

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to impact the sustainability of Oklahoma’s water resources and the aquatic and public health of Oklahoma by providing leadership in finding solutions for the important water-related challenges facing our state.

Meet our Alumni

Meet the Team:

Leadership

Jason Vogel, Ph.D., P.E.

Jason Vogel, Ph.D., P.E.

Director & Professor

jason.vogel@ou.edu

For more than 25 years, Dr. Jason Vogel, P.E. has worked to facilitate and develop solutions for water issues throughout the Great Plains of the United States and beyond. He has served as Director of the Oklahoma Water Survey at the University of Oklahoma (OU) since June 2017. In addition to his responsibilities as Director, Dr. Vogel is a Professor in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. Prior to joining OU, he held faculty and research positions at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and at the U.S. Geological Survey, respectively.

Since the the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Vogel has co-led the team that has developed into the preeminent source for wastewater-based epidemiology in Oklahoma. In addition to his work on sewage surveillance, he has also developed an award-winning stormwater and stream management research and outreach program and is recognized as one of the leading experts in low-impact development stormwater management systems in the region.

Dr. Vogel has served the water sector at the national, state and local levels for a variety of groups, including the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, the American Ecological Engineering Society, and the Oklahoma Clean Lakes and Watersheds Association.

Education:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, B.S., Biological Systems Engineering, 1995
Texas A&M University, M.S., Agricultural Engineering, 1997
Oklahoma State University, Ph.D., Biosystems Engineering, 2001

Keith Strevett, Ph.D.

Associate Director & Professor

Strevett@ou.edu

Keith Strevett is a Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at the University of Oklahoma. His experience includes water quality modeling and studies; development of watershed management plans; non-point source water quality management, fluvial geomorphology relationship with land use studies and natural channel design through fluvial geomorphology studies. He has previously worked for local agencies and as an external consultant to provide experience in water quality model development with extensive knowledge of water quality and water quantity field methods, including Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developments. He has also provided external reviews for numerous water quality projects. These projects focused on stream restoration, development of TMDLs and implementation plans, water quality modeling, the development of compliance strategies, and development of water quality deterioration indicators.

Education:

B.S., Microbiology and Public Health
B.S., Civil Engineering
Ph.D., Environmental Engineering

Kristen K. Shelton, Ph.D.

kristen k. shelton, Ph.D.

Assistant Director

kristen.shelton@ou.edu

Dr. kristen shelton is microbiologist who specializes in molecular biology and science education. They joined the Oklahoma Water Survey in the fall of 2020 as a lab technician in the Oklahoma Water Survey Microbiology Lab focusing on wastewater-based epidemiology. Prior to joining the Oklahoma Water Survey full-time in 2023, kristen was an instructor at the University of Oklahoma where they taught classes in the School of Biological Sciences (formerly the Dept. of Microbiology & Plant Biology and the Dept. of Biology), and in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education. They are also a veteran of the United States Air Force.

Area(s) of research: Human and Environmental Health, Environmental Microbiology, Science Literacy, STEM Education and Outreach, as well as Inclusion, Accessibility, & Justice in STEM.

Education:

University of Oklahoma, B.S., Microbiology, 2013
University of Oklahoma, M.S., Microbiology, 2017
University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum (Science Education), 2023

Richard M. Zamor, Ph.D.

Microbiology Laboratory Lead

rmzamor@ou.edu

Dr. Richard Zamor is an aquatic ecologist that has spent over 20 years investigating the applied problems (e.g, harmful algal blooms, invasive species) within aquatic ecosystems. Prior to joining the Oklahoma Water Survey, Rich was an assistant professor at Northeastern State University where he was part of the initiative to start an Aquatic Sciences degree program. Prior to that, he served as a watershed ecologist and research director for four years for the Grand River Dam Authority. In his current role, Rich works with the faculty and staff at the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Water Survey, and the Oklahoma water community to develop and implement effective aquatic research and monitoring efforts to protect and preserve Oklahoma’s water resources.

Area(s) of research: Environmental Microbiology, Water Resources Monitoring, Water Quality, Aquatic Ecology, Invasive Species

Education:

University of Oklahoma, B.S., Cum laude, Zoology, 2002
University of Georgia, M.S., Forest Resources (Fish Ecology), 2005
University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2013

Caitlin Miller, M.S.

Program Coordinator & Research Scientist

caitlin.miller@ou.edu

Caitlin is a research scientist with interest in areas including water resources monitoring, wetlands, biodiversity in aquatic habitats, and wastewater-based epidemiology. She currently serves as both the OWS program coordinator for the research and monitoring programs, where she organizes the undergraduate work schedule for our projects, and coordinator of the Oklahoma Erosion and Sediment Control (OKESC) Inspector Certification Program. She excels in collaborative environments and is heavily involved in research undertakings with the team. Recently, Caitlin has been focused on growing her skills as a microbiology lab scientist, in addition to making impacts as a leader in the environmental science research field.

Education:

Oklahoma State University, B.S., Environmental Science, 2010
Oklahoma State University, M.S., Environmental Science, 2023

Affiliate Faculty

Changjie Cai, Ph.D.

Researcher and Assistant Professor

Changjie-Cai@ouhsc.edu

OWS Collaboration: Air Quality at Pre-schools in Oklahoma

Dr. Changjie Cai is the founding Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center in U.S. Southern Great Plains, which is a core Center in the Hudson College of Public Health at the OUHSC. He is the PI of a biosafety level 2 lab (BSL2), which is a core research lab in the College. His background is Meteorology and Occupational and Environmental Health. Research in Dr. Cai’s lab focuses on three directions: (1) identifying and assessing exposure to hazards (e.g., aerosols, bioaerosols, gases, etc.) and their controls; (2) integrating advanced techniques (e.g., machine-learning, advanced materials) into Occupational and Environmental Health fields; (3) studying air pollutants and their climate effects using atmospheric dynamic models (e.g., WRF-Chem); and (4) environmental equity and sustainability.

Education:

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, B.S., Atmospheric Science, 2009
North Carolina State University, M.S., Atmospheric Science, 2013
University of Iowa, Ph.D., Occupational & Environmental Health, 2018

Shang Gao, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Watershed Management and Ecohydrology

shanggao@arizona.edu

OWS Collaboration: Modeling Impacts of Wastewater Reuse on Receiving Streams in the Red River Basin of Oklahoma

Dr. Shang Gao serves as Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Before joining the University of Arizona, Shang worked at the University of Oklahoma (OU) as a postdoctoral research associate. He obtained his Ph.D. in civil engineering at University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). By training, Dr. Gao is a hydrologist studying two ends of the hydrologic spectrum, i.e., floods and droughts. He combinedly utilizes hydrologic models, remote sensing observations, and data-driven methods to understand the surface water dynamics. He has been actively working with federal agencies, municipal water utilities, and native indigenous communities to address water-related issues.

Education:

Nankai University, Tianjin, China, B.S., Environmental Science, 2011
UC Irvine, M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013
University of Texas at Arlington, Ph.D., Water Resource Engineering, 2019

Caitlin Hodges, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Critical Zone Geoscience

chodges@ou.edu

OWS Collaborations: Stormwater management using bioretention cells, compost filter sock erosion control

Dr. Caitlin Hodges is a critical zone geoscientist who joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma's School of Geosciences in Fall 2021. Her research focuses on the interface between soil science and biogeochemistry, and she pursues fundamental research in soil carbon cycle- mineral weathering feedbacks and redox cycling in soils. She uses this fundamental research on soils to understand the role soils play in modulating the global carbon cycle and terrestrial inputs (pollutant fertilizers, heavy metals, etc.) to surface waters.

Education:

University of Georgia, B.S.E.S., Water and Soil Resources, 2014
University of Georgia, M.S., Ecology, 2017
Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D., Soil Science and Biogeochemistry, 2021

Katrin Gaardbo Kuhn, MSc MBBS Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Hudson College of Public Health

Katrin-Kuhn@ouhsc.edu

OWS Collaboration: Wastewater Surveillance for Infectious Diseases

Katrin Kuhn has more than 20 years’ experience in infectious disease epidemiology. Dr. Kuhn was one of the original founders of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where she completed her postgraduate degrees and worked for several years. Following this, she acted as a senior epidemiologist at the national Danish institute of infectious diseases in charge of One Health collaborations, national surveillance of Campylobacter and Shigella and as principal investigator on numerous outbreak investigations. Since transitioning to Oklahoma in 2020, she has become one of the founders of the University of Oklahoma Wastewater Surveillance Team which monitors for infectious pathogens in wastewater throughout the State of Oklahoma.

Education:

University of London, B.S., Zoology
University of Copenhagen, B.S., Medicine
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, M.S., Medical Parisitology
London School of Hygience & Tropical Medicine, Ph.D., Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Aikaterini P. Kyprioti, Ph.D.

Researcher and Assistant Professor

akypriot@ou.edu

OWS Collaboration: Wastewater Surveillance for Infectious Diseases

Aikaterini focuses her educational and research efforts on structural engineering and infrastructure response against natural hazards, with an emphasis on developing computationally efficient methods to perform risk and reliability analysis and quantify uncertainty in engineering systems leveraging state of the art AI/ML techniques. Her research includes topics in earthquake engineering infrastructure response, tropical cyclone risk assessment, and impact of weather extreme events like inland and coastal flooding on infrastructure. The ultimate aim of her research is to develop novel methods to inform new infrastructure designs and/or update old ones, to improve their resilience and performance under a changing climate.

Education:

Aristotle University-Greece, B.S., 2009-2014
Aristotle University-Greece, M.S., 2015-2016
Notre Dame, M.S., 2019-2022
Notre Dame, Ph.D., 2017-2022

Bradley S. Stevenson, Ph.D.

Dr. Bradley S. Stevenson, Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor

Bradley.Stevenson@ou.edu

OWS Collaboration: Wastewater Surveillance for Infectious Diseases

Microbial life represents the overwhelming majority of biological diversity on our planet. Most microbially-driven processes are polymicrobial, meaning that they are the function of complex assemblages of organisms that compete, coexist, and cooperate. Dr. Stevenson's research uses powerful molecular tools and cultivation-based approaches to study microbial assemblages, novel microorganisms, and their roles in decomposition of organic substrates, corrosion of metal surfaces, degradation of hydrocarbon, production of biofuels, and the production of secondary metabolites.

Education:

Miami University-Oxford, OH, B.A., 1992
Michigan State University, Ph.D., 1993-2000
Michigan State University, Postdoc, 2000-2003
Michigan State University, Postdoc, Agouron Institute Geobiology Postdoctoral fellow, 2003-2005

Ralph S. Tanner, Ph. D.

Ralph S. Tanner, Ph.D.

Researcher and Professor

rtanner@ou.edu

Tanner Lab Website

OWS Collaborations: Investigating false positives of enterococci tests; Wastewater surveillance of infectious diseases

Dr. Tanner's research currently focuses on bioenergy, including bioethanol, biobutanol, biohydrogen and methane. He has had experience in these areas in both the private and academic sectors since 1975 (and have the world’s most continuous experience with techniques for modern anaerobic microbiology). Related applied research areas include disinfectants/biocides, water/wastewater microbiology and water treatment, and microbially-influenced corrosion. Another outcome of this work has been the discovery and microbial systematics of a number of new species and genera of bacteria, with publications since 1977.

Education:

University of Massachusetts, B.S., Microbiology, 1975
University of Illinois, M.S., Microbiology, 1977
University of Illinois, Ph.D., Microbiology, 1982
Celanese Chemical Co., Inc., Research Microbiologist, 1982-1983
Rohm & Haas Co., Senior Research Microbiologist, 1983-1986

Current Staff

Kyle C. Bohanan