RIVER FALLS – Two University of Wisconsin-River Falls faculty have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils to understand their environmental movement and transformations.

Bahareh Hassanpour, assistant professor of environmental science and environmental engineering, was awarded the grant under the NSF’s Empowering Broader Academic Capacity and Education (EMBRACE) program. EMBRACE supports research and education at primarily undergraduate institutions. This funding allocates $400,000 to Hassanpour as principal investigator and to co-principal investigator Jill Coleman Wasik, professor of environmental science.

“We are very excited that this grant supports bringing research staff to our campus and provides funding for our undergraduate students to be involved in research,” Hassanpour said.

Hassanpour’s research focuses on water quality in agricultural areas. The goal of her work is to understand the processes that impact nutrient cycling, particularly of carbon and nitrogen, which are critical to maintaining the balance of life on Earth. 

Agricultural activities have depleted carbon in soils, reducing soil quality and biodiversity, negatively impacting the soil-water balance, and making soil more vulnerable to erosion. Excess nitrogen caused by heavy use of fertilizers can contaminate waterways, resulting in algal blooms and fish kills or leaching into groundwater, making it unsafe to drink.

How carbon and nitrogen cycle in soils depends on environmental conditions such as precipitation and soil water content, yet little is known about these mechanisms. Understanding these connections is critical for farmers to make better land use and crop management decisions and to develop effective nutrient management strategies.

The study that Hassanpour and Coleman Wasik will conduct aligns well with one of the four priority research areas, stewarding land and water resources, under Wisconsin’s Dairy Innovation Hub. As one of five faculty positions at UW-River Falls funded by the Hub, Hassanpour used Hub startup funds to collect preliminary data to support her successful NSF grant application.

Hassanpour’s experience as a child inspired her career path. Despite living in northern Iran, an area on the coast of the Caspian Sea with abundant water where paddy fields are common, her tap water was often not safe to drink. She and her sisters carried home containers of potable water from a deep well that was more than a quarter mile from their home.

As she grew older, Hassanpour learned that the situation in southern Iran was even worse, as water there was not only polluted but scarcer. Hassanpour could only wonder how far those children had to go to find a source of safe drinking water. When it came time to choose a major in college, she was drawn to agricultural engineering with a focus on water engineering, and she continues that work at UW-River Falls.

Submitted by UW-River Falls