Leveraging Geospatial Analytics for Watershed-Scale Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance and Pesticides

Speaker: Dr. Jacelyn Rice-Boayue, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, and CGA Faculty Fellow

Introduction by: Dr. Georgina Sanchez, CGA’s Director of Research Engagement

Summary: Municipal wastewater discharges are an increasingly important resource amid climate-driven water stress, but also a significant source of contaminants that threaten ecosystems and public health. This talk presents geospatial frameworks for watershed-scale surveillance of emerging contaminants, with a focus on down-the-drain pesticides and antibiotics. In California, a Pesticide Vulnerability Index integrating hydrology, climate, and pollution sources identified elevated pesticide risks overlapping endangered species habitats. In parallel, a National Antibiotic Pollution Vulnerability Index was developed to assess antibiotic pollution and resistance risks nationwide. Together, these frameworks support targeted monitoring and inform policy to protect ecosystems from wastewater-derived contaminants.

About the speaker: Dr. Jacelyn Rice-Boayue is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University. Previously, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the International Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering in Burkina Faso and a postdoctoral research fellow at Duke University’s Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. Dr. Rice-Boayue earned her Ph.D. in Civil, Sustainable, and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. Her research group focuses on advancing sustainable water resource management by integrating modeling, laboratory, and field studies, as well as social science approaches. Her work examines water quality, focusing on anthropogenic drivers of emerging contaminants in urban water systems, providing insights to guide effective management strategies.