Walker named director for Environmental Sciences and Health graduate program
Mark Walker
Mark Walker has been named director of the Environmental Sciences and Health Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at the University.
As director, Walker will oversee a program that includes 30 faculty members from several colleges within the University, the Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The program’s goal, according to Walker, is to “attack research problems related to environmental science and health from different perspectives, to develop comprehensive and balanced ways to maintain environmental and human health.”
Another goal for Walker is to strengthen the program by identifying opportunities for faculty and graduate students to collaborate on research that is important for Nevada.
Walker, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources’ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science as well as state water specialist for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, came to the University in 1997 after earning his doctorate in agricultural engineering from Cornell University.
He is currently conducting research on water issues at the international level by developing a system to detect the water-borne parasite Leptospira and help identify potential sources of contamination. The system also would help define management options to control infected animal populations.
“Leptospira is one of the most widespread infections in the world, especially in tropical regions,” Walker says.
On the local level, Walker is investigating arsenic levels in groundwater in Churchill County in rural Nevada, and is also studying the potential for water contamination from dog exercise areas.
Walker says he didn’t always have dreams of becoming a water specialist. He earned a bachelor’s in English and journalism from the State University of New York at Binghamton and joined the Peace Corps following graduation.
He worked with rural water supply and well construction in Burkina Faso, a small country in West Africa. This fueled Walker’s interest in the field of water research and led him to pursue his master’s in hydrologic sciences at the University of Arizona.
Walker, in his dual capacity for Cooperative Extension, has designed a program to assist and instruct water treatment and plant operators to maintain their technical skills using the extensive network of video conferencing facilities in Nevada.
The program, supported by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, has been in place since 2000 and has had nearly 3,000 participants in 67 classes.
Walker says the he enjoys his work and feels that it is important, noting that adequate supplies of clean water are essential to life.
“No life form can survive without water, and finding ways to protect, extend and clean our supplies on the planet is among the most important in the world today,” he says.
Story by Lauren Landa, student intern in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources.
John Trent, public relations director, can be reached at jtrent@unr.edu.
