Dr. Anthony Parolari is an assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. He is a 2020 recipient of the Way Klingler Young Scholar Award.
Parolari’s research centers around developing quantitative models to forecast ecosystem dynamics under climate variability and land use intensification. Within this research, Parolari will focus on two primary research goals: quantify spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation-soil-climate interactions and apply models of vegetation-soil-climate interactions to engineering problems of drought, flood, and water quality mitigation in urban and agricultural systems.
During Parolari’s first three years as an assistant professor at Marquette, he moved beyond his training and took it upon himself to build a research program that merged basic ecohydrological science with applications in engineering hydrology.
Dr. Parolari with students on the green roof of the Opus College of Engineering.
“Dr. Parolari is highly collaborative, collegial and service-minded,” Dr. Kristina Ropella, dean of the Opus College of Engineering, said. “He is passionate about Marquette’s responsibility in student and faculty development as well as Marquette’s leadership in solving global challenges.”
His work in applied ecohydrology is strongly reflected by his local and international service activity. As part of his role in the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Ecohydrology Technical Committee, Parolari organized the first ever Urban Ecohydrology session at the AGU Fall Meeting and now leads a subcommittee that will propose a separate Urban Systems Conference.
The Way Klingler Young Scholar Award supports promising young scholars in critical stages of their careers. The awards are intended to fund $2,000 in operating costs and to cover a portion of salary to afford the recipient a one-semester release from teaching.
Dr. Parolari with students, working on a project supported by the Fund for Lake Michigan.
The group is studying how climate and hydrology impact the ability of urban soils to retain excess nutrients, like Nitrogen and Phosphorus. When nutrients are used by plants and soil microbes, it keeps them from being released into Milwaukee’s rivers and Lake Michigan, where they can stimulate algal growth and deplete oxygen.
During the research semester provided by the Way Klingler Young Scholar Award, Parolari plans to establish a research framework for the quantitative, ecohydrological analysis of urban water systems. He will also establish a research plan in which he will submit a proposal for an American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference on Sustainable Urban Systems, write a literature review on urban ecohydrology research needs and develop and apply a suite of data analytics and modeling tools to evaluate the predictability and controllability of urban stream water quality.
Parolari has served on a number of local advisory committees for Green Infrastructure design projects. His work has been featured in 25 publications and has been awarded a number of highly sought-after grants.
Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp, vice president for research and innovation, shared a short video congratulating Dr. Parolari.
Congratulations to Marquette University’s faculty and staff award recipients for the 2019–20 academic year. Marquette is blessed to have some of the most dedicated and talented faculty and staff members in higher education. And the university holds in high esteem its tradition to honor these remarkable individuals at awards and recognition ceremonies throughout each spring semester.
Aligned with our mission, these recipients display the search for truth, the discovery and sharing of knowledge, the fostering of personal and professional excellence, the promotion of a life of faith, and the development of leadership expressed in service to others.
Please read on, and enjoy profiles of the deserving women and men who were recognized this spring.