Hello! My name is Qian Zhang. I am an Associate Research Scientist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) at the USEPA Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP). As part of the CBP's Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting (STAR) team, I collaborate closely with scientists and managers across the CBP Partnership to analyze water quality monitoring data and assess the temporal and spatial trends in Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. This effort is essential in evaluating the progress of the Bay restoration effort, supporting the goals of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, and informing science-based management decisions for the future. Additionally, I hold a part-time appointment as an ORISE Faculty Research Fellow at the USEPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), where I work within the National Nutrient Inventory team on the development and application of nutrient inventories and predictive water quality models.

I am particularly interested in applying scientific principles and statistical approaches to examine nutrient and sediment loads from watersheds and better understand their drivers and impacts along the land-river-estuary continuum. My specific research interests include: (1) quantifying riverine water-quality loads and trends; (2) improving statistical methods for riverine water-quality load and trend estimation; (3) disentangling natural and anthropogenic controls of riverine water-quality loads and trends; and (4) understanding impacts of riverine loads on receiving waters. As a Monitoring Data Analyst at CBP, I am committed to developing new approaches to integrate, analyze, and visualize complex environmental data toward extracting and communicating meaningful patterns. 

In 2016, I obtained my Ph.D degree in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. My Ph.D dissertation is entitled as "Quantifying Nutrient and Sediment Export from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Retrospective Analyses and Method Improvements." Under the advisement of Prof. Bill Ball, my dissertation focused on applying scientific principles and statistical approaches to quantify nutrient and sediment export from the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Upon completion of my Ph.D, I received the Innovyze Excellence in Computational Hydraulics / Hydrology Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES), which was jointly selected with the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP).

Prior to my doctoral research, I obtained two master of science (MSE) degrees from the Johns Hopkins University, one in environmental engineering (Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering) and the other in statistics (Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics). I obtained my bachelor degree in environmental engineering at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 

For more information, please click the headers or contact me at qzhang@chesapeakebay.net or qzhang@umces.edu.