Joanna Carey Awarded a National Science Foundation Grant to Examine River Health

Rivers, in all their grandeur and vitality, have long been a subject of Joanna Carey’s research.

“Rivers are vital to life, providing drinking water and supporting agriculture, recreation, transportation, and fisheries,” says the associate professor of earth and environmental science and the Debi and Andy Butler ’84 Term Chair at Babson College.

Carey, together with a team of researchers affiliated with institutions from across the country, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to take a close look at the health of rivers. Changes on land, such as increasing development or expanding agriculture, can negatively impact river ecosystems and worsen water quality.

“The United States has invested more than one trillion dollars to improve river water quality, one of the nation’s largest environmental investments, yet problems with water quality continue,” Carey says.

A Three-Year Project

As part of a three-year research project, Carey and her fellow team of researchers will examine publicly available long-term data on river chemistry and stream flow from more than 450 rivers across all seven continents. The researchers hope to improve the understanding of river ecosystems and develop tools to assess them.

“The outcome of this research will be the development of new global frameworks for understanding and predicting how river chemistry responds to environmental changes,” Carey says, “helping to guide efforts to manage and protect rivers across the United States and around the world.”

Besides Carey, who is serving as co-principal investigator, the team working on the NSF-funded project includes Lienne Sethna of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Kathi Jo Jankowski of the United States Geological Survey, and Pam Sullivan of Oregon State University.

Babson professors earning an NSF grant is not a common occurrence, though Michael Goldstein, professor of finance and the Donald P. Babson Professor of Applied Investments, was awarded two NSF grants for his Arctic research.

Carey previously earned an NSF grant to study rivers in 2020.