Qian Zhang

Dr. Qian Zhang is an Associate Research Scientist with UMCES at the USEPA Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP). His main responsibility is to collaborate with scientists and managers in the CBP Partnership to analyze monitoring data and explore the temporal and spatial patterns and trends of water quality in Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, which are critical to defining the success of the Bay restoration effort toward meeting the goals of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and to making science-based management decisions in the foreseeable future.

Dr. Zhang is interested in applying scientific principles and statistical approaches to examine nutrient and sediment loads from watersheds and better understand their drivers and impacts along the land-river-estuary continuum, thereby contributing to sustainability goals related to clean water, resilient ecosystems, and informed watershed management under changing climate and land-use pressures. Specific research interests include: (1) quantifying riverine water-quality loads and trends; (2) improving statistical methods for riverine water-quality load and trend estimation; (3) disentangling natural and anthropogenic controls of riverine water-quality loads and trends; and (4) understanding impacts of riverine loads on receiving waters. As a Data Analyst at CBP, Zhang is committed to developing new approaches to integrate, analyze, and visualize complex environmental data toward extracting and communicating meaningful patterns.

Zhang obtained his Ph.D degree from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Under the advisement of Prof. Bill Ball, Zhang’s doctoral dissertation focused on nutrient and sediment export from major tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay. Zhang also holds two Master of Science degrees from Johns Hopkins University, one in environmental engineering and the other in statistics.