The Roles of Bacteria, Organic Compounds, and Climate in Nutrient Cycling and Pollutant Transport Patricia A. Maurice, associate professor of civil engineering and geological sciences, studies microbial trace metal and organic interactions with mineral surfaces from the atomic scale up to the scale of entire water sheds, like the Lake Erie Basin or portions of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. She also examines how extreme climates affect ecosystems. “My research is very broad,” states Maurice, “but it always uses fundamental molecular-scale investigations to understand large-scale phenomena like pollutant transport or the effect of global climate changes on ecosystems. I apply this fundamental approach to a variety of field situations.” For instance, in collaboration with Diane McKnight, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado, Maurice has been studying the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, some of the coldest, driest places on Earth. She suggests that the unique environment of Antarctica actually aids her research by highlighting processes that can’t be studied in other locales due to the existence of multiple and concurrent interactions. The research focuses on the few weeks each year when the glaciers melt and water flows into the valleys. What Maurice and her team have found conflicts with their original expectations. Namely, they found a system of bacteria and algae that blooms quickly and extremely efficiently in water, demonstrating that at least certain types of bacteria have the ability to adapt to an ecosystem’s environment. Their study also showed that minerals in the water experienced chemical erosion at surprisingly fast rates, perhaps because of the previously unanticipated microbiological processes. Another study focuses on the degradation of biological material. Consider the many different materials present -- such as leaves -- in soil and other organic matter. As water passes through the soil, it carries with it some of the molecules from the biological material. When these molecules pass into the lower soils and eventually aquifers or streams, they begin to control the biological and chemical reactions and, essentially, determine the fate of pollutants. If, for example, there are a multitude of these natural organic materials that get into streams, they function as a sun block, preventing ultraviolet light from penetrating the streams and damaging the organisms in the water. “Understanding the reactions that control organic matter on the molecular level,” says Maurice, “will help us predict how the organic matter will respond to climate change. If we understand the hydrology and how the water flow affects the amount of organic matter that enters the streams, as well as the reactions that occur once it is in the streams, then we can better predict how climate change will influence the sun-blocking mechanism and perhaps develop ways to lessen potential ecosystem damage.” According to Maurice, the purpose of her research is to engineer solutions. She believes that with a fundamental knowledge of how a system works, researchers from a variety of disciplines in the College of Engineering and throughout the University can design solutions for a wide range of complex environmental problems. “That’s one of the benefits of being among a group of engineers,” she says, “instead of working in isolation with ‘science’ taking place in one building and ‘engineering’ in another, we are bringing them together to find answers.”