Messer Research Group

Welcome to the Messer Research Website!

Tiffany L. Messer, PhD

Assistant Professor, Water Quality Engineer

Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Fellow

Biological Systems Engineering
School of Natural Resources
College of Engineering
Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

217 L.W. Chase Hall, P.O. Box 830730
Lincoln, NE 68583-0730
Phone: (402) 472-2232
Email: Tiffany.Messer@unl.edu

Overview

Identify - Trace - Treat contaminants in highly disturbed ecosystems

We live in a culture that imagines water as an unlimited and invincible natural resource. However, the impacts of drought and increased pollutant (e.g., pesticides, nutrients, antibiotics, metals) loads from non-point source pollution from both agricultural and urban landscapes continue to threaten important aquatic dependent industries, drinking water, and recreational water-based ecosystems. Because over 80% of water use is in agriculture (in the US and worldwide), transforming water management in a meaningful way means changing how it is used and managed – and engineered. Therefore, my team's research interests are at the often-ignored intersection of agricultural engineering, ecology, and chemistry of emerging contaminants.

The Messer Research Team focuses on: 

1. Fate and transport of contaminants of emerging concern and nutrients in surface waters

2. Innovative sensor technologies for water quality monitoring

3. Ecosystem based Best Management Practices (i.e., wetland and rivers adjacent to agroecosystems)

Research Interests

• Emerging Sensor Technologies
• Hydrologic and Stable Isotope Tracer Techniques
• Nutrient and Pesticide Cycling, Fate, and Transport
• Agricultural Systems
• Surface Water Hydrology Modeling​
• Ecosystem Restoration
• Engineering Education
• Environmental Impacts in Developing Countries
• Groundwater Hydrology Modeling
• Restoration Assessments of Ecosystem Services
• Environmental Policy