Overview

Michael Nassry, Ecological Engineer with Riparia at Penn State

Michael Nassry is an Ecological Engineer with Riparia in the Department of Geography at Penn State’s University Park campus. His research and teaching efforts focus on water resource management, carbon sequestration, and the impacts of climate change and land management choices on aquatic systems, agricultural landscapes, and the ecosystems services these systems provide. Prior to joining Riparia, Nassry earned a B.S. and M.S. from Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, worked as a consultant conducting environmental and human health-based risk assessments, and examined water quality, carbon cycling, and stream metabolism in meltwater supported systems in southeast Alaska while earning a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

As part of Riparia his work focuses on science to inform policy and practice in watershed management and landscape ecology. His recent research includes:

  • Updating recommendations for watershed management and water quality goals for the Pennsylvania climate change impact assessment to build resilience in water resources and sustainable agricultural systems through improved management strategies.
  • Incorporating ecological monitoring and condition assessment data from coastal wetlands into a regional interactive database to support a searchable decision support tool.
  • Integrating ecological condition assessment methods and the Riparia Reference Wetland Database into the Penn State Center for Nutrient Solutions, riparian forested buffer evaluations with the USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), and the National Resources Inventory (NRI) functional assessment of isolated depression wetlands on the coastal plain.
  • Developing a vulnerability assessment framework to evaluate the ecological impact of climate change in the Mid-Atlantic region.
  • Characterizing the hydrology and carbon storage potential of snowfield and glacier meltwater supported systems and exploring the impact of climate change on the ecosystem services these landscapes provide in the Peruvian Andes and Southeast Alaska.
  • Developing content for immersive applications that can provide virtual, augmented, or mixed reality experiences centered on water resources and agricultural land management geared toward science communication and better informing land management decisions.