UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Heather Preisendanz, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named director of the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science.
Housed in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the aim of the institute — referred to as SAFES — is to convene expertise at Penn State to address complex, interconnected food-energy-water-land challenges, such as food security, supply chain disruptions, bioenergy production, biodiversity, changing land uses, environmental degradation and climate volatility. Preisendanz has served as SAFES associate director for research since fall 2022.
As director, she will coordinate the institute’s operational facets, including research, education and outreach. Preisendanz also will facilitate partnerships with interdisciplinary institutes and other academic institutions to address environmental and agricultural issues using transdisciplinary methods while engaging with stakeholders and funding bodies.
She will continue her research responsibilities in the college’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering as a Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment co-funded faculty member.
“Dr. Preisendanz brings a deep understanding of and expertise in the sustainable management of landscapes, with an impressive research career tackling many of the landscape-level challenges that have become the hallmark of SAFES efforts,” said Blair Siegfried, the college’s associate dean for research and graduate education.
He added that her contributions to undergraduate education and graduate training and her long-standing partnerships with Penn State Extension, various stakeholders and governmental agencies contribute valued experience to the three integrated pillars of SAFES.
Preisendanz earned master’s and doctoral degrees in civil engineering from Purdue University, where she also served as a postdoctoral research associate. She holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rutgers University.
In 2013, she joined the faculty at Penn State, where her research interests center around the fate, transport and impacts of emerging contaminants. Her research group conducts extensive fieldwork to quantify the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — commonly known as PFAS — and other contaminants in the environment and to understand how natural processes and human activities influence their presence in aquatic ecosystems.
Preisendanz also studies the ability of wastewater and drinking water treatment plants to remove contaminants and spearheaded Penn State’s wastewater surveillance efforts. Leveraging the knowledge gained from field, facility and lab studies, her research designs and evaluates methods to reduce the presence and impact of contaminants in surface and groundwater bodies.
In addition to teaching several undergraduate courses at Penn State, Preisendanz has supervised 16 graduate students, 33 undergraduate students and a postdoctoral scholar and has hosted four international visiting scholars. Graduates of her lab hold positions in industry, academia and government.
Over her career, Preisendanz has contributed 52 peer-reviewed publications and 17 conference papers. Her research program has attracted more than $10 million in funding, with sources including competitive external agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, her program has attracted more than $50,000 to bolster undergraduate research experiences.
She supports Penn State Extension through scientific outreach, providing training for Penn State Extension’s Master Well Owner Network and Master Watershed Steward program and presenting during related webinars. In 2022, Preisendanz received the Natural Resource Education Champion Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals. She has spearheaded numerous community-based studies that were funded from her program’s internal, state and federal grants.
Preisendanz partners with various stakeholders and governmental bodies, such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. She has been a reviewer for national and regional proposals and a state-level action plan and has served on various state and regional scientific advisory committees.
Her involvement in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has propelled her into prominent technical and programmatic leadership positions. In recognition of her contributions, she was honored with a regional Young Engineer of the Year award in 2020. She currently serves as chair of the society’s hydrology technical committee.
Preisendanz also recently completed LEAD21, a program that provides leadership and professional development training for faculty and professionals within the land-grant system.
At Penn State, Preisendanz has held multiple service roles with increasing leadership responsibilities, including serving as an elected member and co-chair of the University-level Water Council and helping to organize the 2022 conference, “Wastewater Reuse: 50-plus Years of Research, Management, and Lessons Learned,” which highlighted Penn State’s “Living Filter,” a year-round spray irrigation system that recycles the University’s treated effluent.