A one-time government major in college, Assistant Professor of Geology Andrew Knudsen had a scientific epiphany when he discovered geology majors took extended field trips to places like Colorado and Iceland to conduct field research. The converted geologist from Mt. Prospect, Ill., joined the Lawrence faculty in 2003 and his scholarship straddles the disciplines of mineralogy and geochemistry. As a specialist in environmental mineralogy, Knudsen studies contaminated river systems, focusing not only on what heavy metals may be in the soil, but how they are interacting with other elements.
Since his arrival, Knudsen has integrated students into many of his scholarly pursuits, including an ongoing field research project on a section of the Milwaukee River near Riverside Park in Milwaukee that he began in 2004. With the assistance of three students, Knudsen has investigated the degree of agricultural, urban, and industrial contaminants contained in the riverbank and how the heavy metals in the soil are cycling. The research has produced two student presentations at professional meetings, with a third slated for a national conference in the fall of 2007.
Last summer, Knudsen collaborated with a pair of students in examining the role of iron in the cycling of phosphorus in Lake Winnebago, a study of the lake’s ecosystem conducted in conjunction with research Bart De Stasio, associate professor of biology, is leading.
Earlier research Knudsen undertook on mine-impacted rivers in Idaho led to his co-authorship of the article, “Geochemistry of lead contaminated wetland soils amended with phosphorus,” that appeared in the March 2007 edition of Environmental Geology. Knudsen was the principal investigator on a $180,000 National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program grant awarded in July that will support the purchase of a powder x-ray diffractometer to enhance faculty-student multidisciplinary research. He also was one of 15 invited U.S. faculty members who participated last summer in a conference organized by the Institute for International Education of Students (IES) at the University of Adelaide to plan a new environmental studies abroad program at the Australian university offering a holistic approach to the study of environmental issues.
Pictured here are, from left to right: Sean Krepski ’09, White Bear Lake, Minn.; Claire Gannon ’09, Delafield; Jeremiah Dansand ’08, Milwaukee; Christopher Laumer ’08, Malvern, Pa.; and Knudsen.View other faculty profiles from the president's annual report
