Research

Our research activities are focused on evaluating watershed-ecosystem dynamics under changing climate and land use to better understand vulnerability and enhance the resilience of our agro-production ecosystems. The concept of sustainability in agro-production system revolves around the premise that the protection of our natural resources should go hand in hand with their use to ensure their availability for the future generation. However, maintaining a sustainable agro-production system is challenging because different stakeholders see through different lenses when assessing their priorities. In fact,  stakeholders sometimes find themselves in diametrically opposing “tug-of-war” situation, literally pulling the “rope” in their respective directions in favor of either enhanced production or minimized environmental and social impacts.  For instance, producers may want to enhance their productivity while regulatory agencies are mandated to minimize environmental footprints. However, management practices designed to enhance productivity can have adverse consequences on our agro-ecosystems. The overarching goal of our research program is to find that sweet spot where productivity, environmental soundness, and social relevancy are optimized.

The Tenet of Sustainability: Environmental soundness, productivity, and social relevancy are optimize

Past and On-going Studies

2019-2023: M.L. Chu (PI), J.A. Guzman (co-PI). Untangling the dynamics of soil erosion through the confluence of data, hydro-ecologic, and decision analytics for a sustainable agro-production system. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture (NIFA-USDA), Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics Tools (FACT) program area. $500,000.  The Cyber-19 Project

2018-2023: M.L. Chu (PI), C. van Riper (co-PI), C. Suski (co-PI), W. Stewart (co-PI). Enhancing agro-ecosystem services using integrated hydro-ecologic and socio-cultural analytics. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture (NIFA-USDA). $841,876. The Kaskaskia Project

2017-2019: M.L. Chu (PI), C. van Riper (co-PI). Enhancing agro-ecosystem services using integrated hydro-ecologic and socio-cultural analytics. Colleges of ACES, UIUC, FIRE seed grant. $59,941.

2016-2020: M.L. Chu (PI), A. Ando (co-PI), J. Knouft (co-PI). “Non-market value of watershed management enhancements: An integration of hydro-ecologic and economic assessments.” National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture (NIFA-USDA). $499,535. The Upper Sangamon Project

2016-2018: M.L Chu (PI). Predicting impacts of land use and climate change on the hydrology and aquatic habitat in the Meramec River watershed, The Nature Conservancy/Saint Louis University, 8/1/2016 – 7/31/2018, $17,155.

2015-2018: M.L. Chu (PI). “Global Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analyses of the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) Model.” US Department of Agriculture – Research, Education, and Economics (REE)-SCA, USDA. $62,000.

Hatch Projects: