Joan B. Rose, Ph.D.
Homer Nowlin Endowed Chair for Water Research
Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan)
Joan Rose has made groundbreaking advances in understanding water quality and protecting public health for more than 20 years and has published over 300 articles. She is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on the microorganism Cryptosporidium and was the first person to present a method for detecting this pathogen in water supplies. In 2001, she received the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize from NWRI for her advances in microbial water quality issues. She served as the Chair of the Science Advisory Board for the EPA’s Drinking Water Committee for four years, and currently serves on the Science Advisory Board for the Great Lakes. She is Co-Director of the Center for Water Sciences (which includes work with the Great Lakes and Human Health Center of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) at Michigan State University, where she is also Director of the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment. Rose received a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Arizona, an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Arizona.

