Virginia Tech® home

Brian Badgley

Assistant Professor
  • School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Synopsis

Dr. Badgley studies how microorganisms in the environment impact human and ecological health, and how knowledge of these interactions can be leveraged to improve soil and water quality.

Description

The Badgley lab conducts research at the intersection of environmental microbiology with water and soil quality, focusing on two broad areas. The first area is relationships between microbial community structure and ecological function such as nutrient cycling. The second area relates to microbial transport and water quality, with a specific focus on the fate and transport of pathogens and fecal indicators at the watershed scale. By combining new methods in environmental genomics with traditional culture-based techniques we seek to gain new insights into these important dynamics in a variety of habitats. The lab also strives to develop highly collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, working with a variety of colleagues from ecology, engineering, agriculture, chemistry, and public health.