Emily Jones
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Emilyj@madsewer.org
Emily Jones is a Pollution Prevention Specialist at Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. Her work is focused on reducing pollutants to the sewer system through education, program development and administration, and work with community stakeholders. Her specific focus areas include chloride reduction, mercury minimization, and coordinating the District’s tours program. She has a B.S. from UW-Madison with majors in biology and life sciences communication.
Sydney Weiss
Environmental Protection Agency
Water Quality Standards Scientist
weiss.sydney@epa.gov
Sydney Weiss is a water quality standards scientist at EPA Region 5, located in Chicago, IL. She holds a bachelor’s in environmental engineering and a master’s in water resources science from Oregon State University. At night Sydney is pursuing her J.D. at Chicago-Kent
College of Law, specifically focused on environmental and water law. At EPA, Sydney’s work focuses on chloride mitigation and reduction initiatives including a collaboration with MPCA to host a national workgroup aimed at devising unique and cooperative solutions.
Brooke Asleson has worked at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency since 2007 where she works collaboratively with federal, state, local partners, and research institutions to protect Minnesota’s water resources. Since 2009 Brooke has been working on chloride and water quality issues at the MPCA. The core of that work has been developing partnerships with a wide variety of professionals to develop strategies that reduce chloride while maintaining public needs. Prior to working for the MPCA, she obtained her Master’s degree in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota.
Edward G. Stets
U.S. Geological Survey
Research Ecologist
estets@usgs.gov
Ted is a Research Ecologist with the US Geological Survey in Mounds View, Minnesota. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2007 and has been with the USGS ever since. His work focuses on water quality in rivers throughout the US. The work being presented today was conducted as part of USGS NAWQA. Ted is currently leading the Trend Assessment Project for the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments Program. Ted lives in Minneapolis with his wife and 3 kids and uses salt sparingly in the winter.
Catherine Harris
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Pollution Prevention Specialist
catherineh@madsewer.org
Catherine Harris has been a Pollution Prevention Specialist for the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District since 2017. Her background in social science research (BS in Community & Environmental Sociology from UW Madison/CALS, and certificates from the Nelson Institute and Oxford’s Saiid Business School) is put to work on the District’s source reduction and public outreach/partnership efforts, including their Chloride Reduction Initiative. Work in this area is ever-evolving and takes many forms from partnership building and program development/administration to direct research and monitoring.
Wayne Brabazon
Region of Waterloo, Ontario
Water Efficiency Technologist
WBrabazon@regionofwaterloo.ca
Wayne has worked for The Region of Waterloo for 23 years in a range of water-services positions. Currently he is the Region’s Water Efficiency Technologist and works extensively with commercial, institutional and industrial (CII) business-sector water users. This role involves convincing businesses to implement, and commit to, water-saving projects. CII water efficiency projects are varied and each project is treated on a case-by-case basis. Wayne’s technical knowledge to support this water efficiency position is based on an educational background in the sciences, business understanding and computer systems expertise.
Steve Yessie
City of Guelph, Ontario
Water Conservation Program Coordinator
steve.yessie@guelph.ca
Steve Yessie has worked in the sustainability field for the past 8 years. In 2018 he joined the Environmental Services’ Compliance and Performance team with the City of Guelph. In his role at the City Steve coordinates the Multi-Residential Water Audit and Water Sub-Meter Rebate programs. In addition to these programs he focuses much of his time toward community education. This finds Steve leading tours of the local Water Services facility and in front of classrooms at schools across the City, discussing source protection, conservation, efficiency and best practices related to water.
Dr. Sara Heger
University of Minnesota
Adjunct Assistant Professor and Researcher
sheger@umn.edu
Dr. Sara Heger is a researcher and instructor at the University of Minnesota in the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program in the Water Resources Center and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department. For over 20 years, she has been conducting research and providing education and technical assistance to homeowners, small communities, onsite professionals, and local units of government
regarding decentralized onsite wastewater treatment. The research program at the U of MN is focusing on evaluating issues related to decentralized wastewater, chlorides, and milk house process water. She has presented in over 30 different states and provinces in North America regarding the science of wastewater treatment including design, installation, and management. Sara is the president of the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association, serves on the NSF International Committee on Wastewater Treatment Systems and chairs Minnesota’s SSTS Advisory Committee. She has a BS in Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering and a MS and PhD in Water Resource Science.
Carl Rosen, Ph. D.
University of Minnesota
Professor and Department Head of Soil, Water & Climate
crosen@umn.edu
Carl Rosen is a Professor and Extension Soil Scientist in the Department of Soil, Water, & Climate at the University of Minnesota and currently serves as Department Head. He received his MS degree in horticulture from Penn State University and a Ph.D. degree in Soil Science from UC Davis. His research and extension programs in Minnesota have focused on optimizing nutrient management for a variety of crops with particular emphasis on irrigated cropping systems. Efforts in recent years have also focused on water quality issues related to fertilizer use and use of municipal and industrial byproducts as amendments for agricultural soils. He has authored or coauthored numerous publications and extension bulletins on the subjects of nutrient management, soil fertility, plant nutrition, and beneficial use of by-products for crop production.
Dr. David Franzen
North Dakota State University
Professor and Soil Specialist
david.franzen@ndsu.edu
Dave Franzen is Professor of Soil Science and one of two NDSU Extension Soil Specialist, with emphasis on soil fertility of crops. He received his BS (‘75), MS (‘76) and PhD (‘93) from the University of Illinois. He worked for about 18 years as agronomist/ manager for a retail fertilizer/ag-supply chain in Illinois before coming to NDSU June, 1994. His work has focused on site-specific nutrient management, resulting in the currently used zone sampling method employed by most variable-rate nutrient application in ND, and recently on the use of active-optical sensors to direct in-season N application for several crops. He also directed recent work in reformulating potassium (K) recommendations based on soil clay chemistry and developed a K calculator for corn as a phone app. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and has received awards for his work in site-specific
nutrient management and service to commodity and agricultural groups in ND.
Maggie Reiter
University of Minnesota Extension
Assistant Professor
reit0215@umn.edu
Maggie Reiter is the Assistant Extension Professor for Turfgrass with University of Minnesota Extension. Maggie works to implement urban turfgrass management programs that conserve water, nutrients, and energy. She works with turfgrass managers to integrate new technologies and enhance ecosystem services like biodiversity and stormwater retention. Ultimately, this work protects Minnesota’s natural resources and builds a climate-ready urban landscape. Maggie has previously led turfgrass programs at the University of California.
Daniel Kaiser
University of Minnesota, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
dekaiser@umn.edu
Daniel Kaiser grew up on a grain and livestock farm in Northeast Iowa. He attended Iowa State University where he received his Masters and Ph.D. degree in soil fertility researching phosphorus and potassium placement for corn and soybean and phosphorus management using poultry litter. Currently he is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota where he has a broad research program related to nutrient management for commodity crops in the state of Minnesota. His current research focuses on the use of soil testing and plant analysis for corn, soybean, and spring wheat, sulfur management in crop rotations, starter fertilizer use in corn, and the use and development of GIS-based technologies for managing crop nutrients.
Laura M. Babcock, Ph.D
Minnesota Technical Assistance Program Director
lbabcock@umn.edu
Laura M. Babcock joined MnTAP as the director in 2011, bringing leadership and technical expertise to the program. She is responsible for developing sustainable programs to meet business’ needs, pursuing funding opportunities for program activities, collaborating with multiple in-state and national partner organizations, managing staff, and providing technical assistance to businesses in Minnesota. Laura has also explored opportunities to improve corporate sustainability through studies on strategies for enhanced asset exchange and material cycling through work at the NorthStar Initiative for Sustainable Enterprise, a program of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the University, Laura worked extensively in the chemical industry in a variety of roles including materials for electronic applications, adhesive applications and polymer additives in addition to a focus on green chemistry and sustainable technology. Laura’s areas of technical expertise include improving production quality and lowering process costs of manufacturing operations as well as contributing to the discovery of various polymer technologies. She has co-authored numerous patents and publications in these areas. Laura received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and a B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
