Data for a Better Water Future - Interview with Lucas White

Share with us a bit about who Lucas White is.

I’m 23, originally from Southern Illinois. I did my undergrad at American University and got bachelor’s degrees in Data Science and Environmental Studies, and wrestled Division 1 for the school. Now I’m back at AU working on my Master’s in Environmental Science with a focus on hydrology.

What made you decide to pursue a master’s degree?

My undergrad leaned heavily into technical stuff like statistics, math, and programming, and I wanted a chance to actually apply those skills to a real environmental issue. So, I felt that graduate research would be a good fit.

How did you decide to focus on Harmful Algae Blooms as a research area and what do you hope your research will help water resource managers to be able to do?

It started with a conversation with Mark Frondorff at Shenandoah Riverkeepers about how HABs were affecting the Shenandoah River, which is a place I love to fish. After looking into it, it seemed that trying to forecast HABs would be a great place to apply the mathematical modeling concepts I focused on in undergrad. Ideally, I would hope my research helps managers predict algal blooms so that fewer people (and their pets) unknowingly expose themselves to toxic algae.

What do you do outside class/work?

Outside of class and work I love woodworking, fishing, and being involved in my church.

What do you hope to do once you complete your master’s degree?

I would like to stay in the water quality space, ideally somewhere at the intersection of data and river management.

What’s one water challenge you hope is solved in your lifetime?

I’d like water quality monitoring to get cheap and widespread enough, so no community is flying blind. I think right now so much of what happens in a river outside of sampling dates (if it’s sampled at all) is a guess. So, the more data we have in any body of water, the better we are going to be able to understand and steward that environment.