Robert Turner, Ph.D.

Member since March 10, 2023

Business Type: UW Faculty

Business Name/Affiliation:
UW Bothell

My research and scholarship falls into two distinct (but sometimes overlapping) categories: Water Quality Research and Environmental Science and Sustainability Teaching Scholarship. I maintain a program of supported water quality research primarily for the sake of my students. The series of research projects that I’ve fostered over the years have greatly enhanced my Environmental Monitoring Practicum course and provided funding, sites, and interested community partners for my students engaged in independent research. Community partners my students and I have worked with have included 21 Acres, the WA State Department of Natural Resources, the Island County Marine Resources Committee, the King County Water and Land Resources Division, the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, the City of Bothell, and the Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation. Although my students and I have been doing field research in a variety of locations over the years, we were also periodically collecting water quality data on campus. Our initial focus was on the influence that our bioswales have on the quality of stormwater runoff that passed through them. Our focus made a big shift in 2012 as we turned our attention to the growing crow roost in our wetland. We immediately found dramatically high pathogen concentrations on campus, in the wetland, and in North Creek that passes through our wetland. The severity of the contamination and the potential to make significant findings has really stepped up the level of our research. This line of research has led to a lot of innovative experimentation by my students and I, a productive collaboration with microbiologist Dr. Keya Sen in the school of STEM, a series of research posters, abstracts, and posters presented at national meetings, and multiple peer reviewed journal articles. Our focus in recent years has been on the use of mushroom mycelium to reduce or eliminate fecal coliform contamination in our runoff. Most of the experimentation in the lab and our wetland has been student driven.

Listings by Robert Turner, Ph.D.

Research & Creative Projects

Investigating the Ability of Mushroom Mycelium to Reduce Fecal Coliform Bacteria Contamination in Surface Water

Added on September 13, 2022

Listings by Robert Turner, Ph.D.

Investigating the Ability of Mushroom Mycelium to Reduce Fecal Coliform Bacteria Contamination in Surface Water

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