Natalie Nelson is an Associate Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department and Faculty Fellow with the Center for Geospatial Analytics at North Carolina State University. She is also a Goodnight Early Career Innovator, Early Career Research Fellow with the Gulf Research Program, and NSF CAREER Award recipient. Natalie received her PhD and BS from the University of Florida in Agricultural and Biological Engineering with a concentration in Interdisciplinary Hydrologic Sciences. She joined NC State in 2017.

Email: nnelson4 [at] ncsu.edu // ORCiD // Google Scholar 

María Elena grew up in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, a picturesque city in a valley among majestic mountains and the Santa María volcano. She did a M.S. in Sciences and Techniques of Water Quality at Granada University, Spain, and a Ph.D. in Hydrosystems Engineering at Arizona State University. Her interests in water started when she was working in Guatemala's rural areas as a Civil Engineer. Now, she focuses on studying surface water contamination. She is interested in learning and applying machine learning and remote sensing. For her postdoctoral research, she is developing models to predict downstream water quality impacts in a highly engineered watershed. Her hobbies include walking, crocheting, and jewelry-making.

Email: memenchu [at] ncsu.edu

Dr. Ikechukwu “Ike” Onwuka obtained his masters and Ph.D. in Earth Systems Science from Florida International University in the spring of 2023. In his dissertation, he created an inexpensive, long-term method to estimate sediment and phosphorus levels in canals, which helped to evaluate the impact of water discharges on Everglades wetlands. Throughout his graduate studies, he received several prestigious awards, including the ForEverglades Scholar Award from The Everglades Foundation, an FIU Outstanding Student Life Award for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Society for Freshwater Society Endowment Award. Ike was also inducted into the National Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education. He is also the first author on three papers from his Ph.D.

Currently, at NCSU, Ike is a STEPS postdoctoral research scholar, working towards developing a nationwide phosphorus (P) budget to understand how P moves within the landscape.

Email: isonwuka [at] ncsu.edu

Randi received her B.S. from Columbus State University in 2012 Earth and Space Sciences with a focus on Geology. From there she went to obtain her MNR in Natural Resources at the University of Georgia with a focus on Hydrology. Her studies at UGA focused on correlating temperature distribution on the Oconee River to that of river gauges and probes to find areas of fish kills, non-point source pollution and thermal pollution. She has worked in the federal government with the EPA as a physical scientist focusing on national pollutant discharge elimination systems and surface water quality, the US Army Corps of Engineers in their Army Geospatial Center as Hydrologist focusing on geospatial studies and mapping water source features outside of the United States, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service as a Soil Conservationist helping local farmers in rural Georgia resolve natural resource concerns. Randi’s research involves leveraging remotely sensed and in situ data to develop predictive and explanatory models for use in sustainable environmental and agricultural management, working to capture, integrate, and analyze sweetpotato data collected from field to market. She is a Sweet-Fellow and Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Fellow. 

Email: rbutler4 [at] ncsu.edu

Julia received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering from North Carolina State University. While in undergrad, she worked on several research projects tied to the University, these projects related to the effects of saltwater inundation on freshwater wetlands, drinking water quality of residential wells across North Carolina, and spatial mapping of water quality parameters and submerged aquatic vegetation in North Carolina’s estuary system. She is now pursuing her PhD in Environmental Engineering and is co-advised by Angela Harris in the Department of Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering. Julia’s current research is focused on improving methods of measuring fecal bacteria in bodies of water through the development of machine-learning models to be used in combination with a multi-parameter sonde. Julia also loves traveling, being outdoors, and identifying different flora and fauna.

Email: jmharr26 [at] ncsu.edu // Webpage

Hector received his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Engineering from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) in La Paz, Bolivia. As an undergraduate research assistant, he studied nutrient management and crop modeling. Before pursing his master’s degree in Soil Fertility & Precision Ag at Louisiana State University, Hector worked for several years as an irrigation extension consultant. His MS project focused on measuring the impact of cover crops on nutrient cycling and sugarcane yield, and developing a predictive model for cover crops biomass and nutrient content with the use of remote sensors. Hector’s PhD research combines precision agriculture, remote sensing, crop modeling, and hydrological modeling to develop a framework that can help forecast phosphorus fluxes through different agricultural management strategies, helping to improve productivity while minimizing phosphorus losses. Hector is a STEPS Scholar and a 2023-2026 Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Fellow.

Email: hhfajard [at] ncsu.edu // LinkedIn // Twitter

Christopher received his undergraduate degrees in Biological & Agricultural Engineering Technology and Environmental Sciences from North Carolina State University. During his undergraduate studies, Christopher worked with the NC State University Sustainability Office to revamp the Office’s mapping efforts on campus. He worked as an undergraduate research assistant for the North Carolina State Climate Office; the project centered around exploring the reluctance of some sectors of the natural resource management industry to incorporate climate data and science into decision-making processes. He also spent two summers interning at the North Carolina Department of Transportation working with the Roadside Environmental Unit. Those internships focused on improving and maintaining NCDOT’s stormwater and wetland mitigation sections. He is now pursuing a master’s degree focused on tracking the environmental and social effects phosphorus has on watersheds as it moves downstream. Christopher was a 2023-2024 STEPS Center Director's Fellowship Award recipient and 2024-2025 Global Change Fellow with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. He was named a U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in 2025.

Email: ccoates2 [at] ncsu.edu

Kelly received her B.Sc. honors degree in Biomathematics, summa cum laude, from the Florida Institute of Technology. As an undergraduate, she was awarded the outstanding junior and senior of Florida Tech, earned a Cultural Competency Certificate, completed her PADI Divemaster and AAUS scientific diver certifications, and did an internship at NOAA’s ESRL Global Monitoring Laboratory in Colorado. Before pursuing graduate school, she worked as an Environmental Specialist analyzing water-quality data for natural resources management in Florida. Kelly earned her M.S. in Biology with Distinction in the Asner Lab, based in Hawaiʻi, through Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. Her M.S. project integrated field data and remote sensing to scale-up estimates of coral reef carbonate production in Hawaiʻi to determine the capacity of reefs to keep up with sea-level rise. Overall, Kelly’s research interests include linking remote sensing, machine learning, spatial analyses, and ecology to better understand and preserve land-sea systems in a changing climate. She is currently a Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student in the Nelson Lab, conducting research to monitor, explain, and predict the impacts of tidal flooding from sea-level rise on coastal water quality at a regional scale in the US. She was selected as a 2025-2026 Global One Health Fellow with the NC State University Global One Health Academy.

Email: kjvanwoe [at] ncsu.edu

Helen Velásquez received her undergraduate degree in Environment and Development Engineering from Zamorano University. During her B.S., Helen focused her studies in hydrology and found a passion for sustainable development and water resources. For her undergraduate thesis, Helen focused on hydrological modeling of Lake Yojoa, Honduras, investigating the impacts of climate change on the lake's monthly and annual flow and analyzing the efficiency of a Nutrient Delivery Ratio model to estimate the spatial distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus in the basin. This project, conducted in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Department of Water and Sanitation, allowed her to engage with policymaking and the social implications of her research. Helen later worked as a Research Assistant at the Agricultural and Biological Engineering department at the University of Florida, where she collaborated on projects related to water quality and efficient irrigation. Helen also enjoys digital design, photography, and science communication. In her free time, she loves snorkeling, traveling, and hiking. She is now a PhD student researching future freshwater and nutrient delivery to the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound and associated ecological impacts as part of the NC Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE).

Email: hpvelasq [at] ncsu.edu

Jenna Kraemer received her undergraduate degree in Microbiology from the University of Maryland. During her undergraduate studies, Jenna worked as a lab technician in UMD's Plant Diagnostic Lab, an undergraduate researcher in the School of Public Health's Wellness, Outreach, and Water Quality Lab, and as a research intern in the Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Lab at the USDA in Beltsville, MD. Before pursuing graduate school, she worked as a Lab Manager in the Entomology Department at UMD. She is now pursuing her PhD in Microbiology and is co-advised by Dr. Angela Harris in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Jenna's current research interest is focused on microbial contamination during sunny day flooding events and how antibiotic resistance plays a role in the risk from those events.

Email: jkraeme [at] ncsu.edu // LinkedIn