Pop, Colwell Part of New USDA Center of Excellence Dedicated to Sustainable Water Reuse

Two computational biologists in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) are part of a just-announced multidisciplinary effort to develop innovative, safe and sustainable ways to irrigate food crops in variable climates.

Mihai Pop and Rita Colwell will join other researchers in the “CONSERVE” Center of Excellence, established with a $10 million, four-year award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The center’s goal is to identify nontraditional water sources and new water treatment technologies that farmers can safely use on food crops without compromising public health.

Led by Amy Sapkota from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, the center includes expertise from a multi-institutional group of bioscientists, engineers, economists, social-behavioral scientists, law and policy experts, agricultural extension specialists, educational media developers, computer scientists and public health specialists.

Pop, an associate professor of computer science in the UMIACS Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB), is leading the center’s data analysis core aspect. He will be responsible for helping different sub-projects share and analyze data, as well as for disseminating the project’s scientific results to the public.

Colwell, a Distinguished University Professor of cell biology and molecular genetics who is also in CBCB, will provide bioinformatics analysis by employing GENIUS, a powerful software system developed to identify bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites in wastewater before, during and after treatment.

The software—developed by a startup Colwell founded, CosmosID—will be an important tool for water quality and both human and animal health.

Go here to read the full news release.