Calla M. Schmidt

Calla Schmidt received a PhD in Earth Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research spans physical hydrology and biogeochemistry and aims to understand the connection between hydrology and the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients. She has done research on nutrient cycling during groundwater recharge, nitrogen pollution in highway runoff and presently she is working on a project investigating the transfer of nutrients discharged by wastewater treatment plants into the base of the food–web in San Francisco Bay. Professor Schmidt's research begins in the field with the collection of water and sediment samples and other supporting environmental data. In the lab she uses a combination of chemical and isotopic techniques as well as modeling to connect the physical hydrology of a system with changes in water quality. In all of her research her goal is to use insights into fundamental processes in hydrology to help inform sustainable management of water resources.

• Physical hydrology and biogeochemistry; aims to understand the connection between hydrology and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients
• Nutrient cycling during groundwater recharge
• Nitrogen pollution in highway runoff
• Transfer of nutrients discharged by wastewater treatment plants into the base of the food web in San Francisco Bay

• Chair, Environmental Science

• PhD, Earth Science, University of California, Santa Cruz