Interdisciplinary Focus for Future Water Resources

Communities close to Baylor’s campus in Texas, just like many areas all around the world, face a challenge—the lakes and streams on which they rely for water are being taxed by challenges like population growth, climate and related precipitation issues, aging infrastructure and more. Those obstacles drive Thad Scott, in the lab or on the lake, to plumb the depths of his discipline, and go beyond it, to provide the information and understanding needed to make wise choices to protect precious water resources.

“Here in Texas, as in many other places globally, our lakes are increasingly stressed by the unintended consequences of societal choices,” Scott says. “Extreme variation between floods and droughts, the growing pressure from rapid population growth, and the aging infrastructure of our man-made lakes requires a new approach to water resource management. That’s what drives us—to develop the science that helps us make critical decisions about effectively and efficient use of our natural resources.”

Scott, who serves as a professor of biology and director of Baylor’s Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research (CRASR), is a limnologist by trade—a natural fit for someone interested in addressing water quality issues in lakes and streams. But, by nature, his approach to research is interdisciplinary, because that’s what future water resources demand.

Informing Policymakers

Scott’s research broadly focuses on reciprocal relationship between aquatic microorganisms and their chemical environment. From his Baylor laboratory or in the field, Scott and his team examine the interactions between water chemistry and microbiology, uncovering how they can impact humans. 

“Ultimately, we’re really interested in how microorganisms are living in water, growing in water, and how they’re interacting with the chemistry of the water,” he says. “The reason we do it is because life needs water, and how those microorganisms interact with the chemistry changes the water in a way that make it more or less suitable for different uses, including human use like drinking and recreation. We also want to support biodiversity across large scales.”

Agencies like National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health have funded his work, and he’s partnered with state agencies in Texas, Utah and across the nation to provide the science they need to make informed decisions. His work serves everyone, but is often directed at policymakers. Scott’s research identifies solutions to water quality problems and often leads to recommendations to state or federal agencies that regulate public water systems.

Collaborative by Nature

Solutions to water challenges that will impact future generations are, by nature, interdisciplinary. That’s why Scott has made interdisciplinary research a priority throughout his career. CRASR is one example; his work in the Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network is another.

CRASR research focuses on aquatic ecosystems; water quality, ecotoxicology and public health; human-environmental linkages and more. Scott serves as research director of the recognized research center focused on ecology, ecotoxicology and hydrology. CRASR’s team includes an American Association of Science Fellow, researchers whose work has been on the cover of Nature and leaders convening international meetings to galvanize action around water quality issues.

“Collaboration is fundamental to everything we do,” Scott says. “In CRASR, it’s an interdisciplinary collaboration between geosciences, environmental sciences, biological sciences and statistical sciences. And we’d like to expand that further.” 

Beyond Baylor, Scott partners with colleagues from Boston University, Michigan Tech University and collaborators from around the world in the Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network. Led from Scott’s lab, the network is on the cutting edge of research studying the biogeochemical process of nitrogen fixation.

“This is an extremely rewarding project because it’s very basic science where were interacting with scientists from around the globe,” Scott says. “It’s cutting-edge research understanding this microbiological process, looking at where it occurs, when it occurs and how and why it occurs.”

In whatever form it takes, Scott’s scholarship is research for life—not only for neighbors in the here and now, but future generations whose access to water will be shaped by how well we preserve, protect and enhance vulnerable resources today.

“There are all sorts of challenges to be addressed, and we’ve got to do that now,” Scott says. “This comes down to developing the science that helps us make these kinds of critical decisions about how to most effectively use the resources we have.”