CEAT researcher focuses on the global effect on the environment
Monday, September 25, 2023
Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Manager, CEAT Marketing and Communications | 405-744-5831 | kristi.wheeler@okstate.edu
Our environment is a giant, ever-changing puzzle that requires complex solutions to equally complex problems, and it will require many different people to solve it.
Dr. Mary Foltz, an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Oklahoma State University, is one of those people working to solve the many problems that threaten our environment and its sustainability.
“My goal is to challenge and change perspectives and minds as it pertains to our environment and sustainability,” Foltz said. “If I can change one student’s mind, then they might choose to pursue a field in environmental sustainability and change 10 more minds.”
Foltz joined the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology in the fall of 2021 to investigate several core areas of research including greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural nutrient cycling and nature-inspired solutions to environmental issues.
Foltz chooses to focus on a global approach to these areas, and how potential solutions to problems affect other areas of the environment. Her team is investigating how naturally occurring processes, such as denitrification and CO2 sequestration, can be used to solve environmental challenges without upsetting the delicate balance of the surrounding environment.
“The environment built itself and evolved in a way that can be self-sustained, and it would make sense to apply some of these natural tools to try to reestablish balance,” Foltz said. “However, it can be challenging to find the right tool, especially when you have to balance so many variables such as the environmental cost, monetary cost and the social cost.”
Foltz is investigating the optimal environmental conditions for these natural processes and determining if those conditions can be achieved without incurring unacceptable costs, whether financial or environmental.
A key challenge to her investigation is the changing environmental conditions that are present today, which pose barriers for these processes to occur. Higher levels of CO2 and more abundant manmade chemicals provide additional challenges to overcome, beyond “normal” environmental conditions.
The answers to these challenges require new methods and new approaches to solve them. Foltz recognized the shift in environmental science and believes her role as an educator and researcher provides her with the perfect environment to inform change.
“I just wanted to do something good, and I loved the environment,” Foltz said. “I took a job teaching high school science and I loved it, but I missed the research aspect of science. I wanted to learn more and be able to pass that knowledge on to my students. I think this position is the best of both worlds.”
Foltz hopes that her work will help give everyone a new perspective on the growing challenges our environment faces, and perhaps look to natural processes that could provide the best solutions.
“I hope that’s what my impact is,” Foltz said. “Making sure folks know about this and care about this will affect change. We need to get everyone on board to work for change.”
Photos: Phil Shockley
Story by: Jeff Hopper | IMPACT Magazine