Noel R. Urban
Professor, Environmental Engineering
Director, Center for
Water and Society
Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering
Telephone: (906)487-3640
Fax: (906) 487-2943
E-mail: nurban@mtu.edu
Education
Ph.D. Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1987
M.S. Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1984
B.S. Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 1979
B.A. Russian Language and Culture,
Courses
CE3501 Environmental Engineering Fundamentals (not available)
CE3502 Environmental Monitoring,
Measurements and Data Analysis Spring 2012
CE4505 Surface Water Quality Engineering Fall 2011
CE4501 Environmental Engineering
Chemical Processes, (not available)
CE4905 Senior Design (not available)
CE5508 Biogeochemical
Processes Fall 2011
CE5992
Environmental Engineering Seminar Spring 2012
Research
Interests
Environmental cycles of major and
trace elements; sediment diagenesis and stratigraphy;
chemistry of natural organic matter; wetland biogeochemistry; environmental
impact and fate of pollutants; influence of organisms on the chemical
environment; role of chemical environment in controlling populations.
Past Research Projects
Retention of
sulfur in lake sediments
Effects
of copper mining on wetlands, lakes, and terrestrial ecosystems
Wetland
Research
Carbon Cycling in
Phosphorus cycling in
Release of copper from stamp sands
into
Sediment-water exchange of nutrients in reservoirs
Use of naturally-occurring radionuclides as tracers of biogeochemical processes
Sedimentation in
Recovery of sediments in
Current
Research Projects
Carbon cycling in the Great Lakes
Effects of climate and land-use change on hydrology and water quality in the Great Lakes Basin
Integrated Assessment of Torch Lake AOC
Assessment of mining impacts on stream mouths on the Keweenaw Peninsula
Chemical, Physical, and Radiative Properties of North Atlantic Free Tropospheric Aerosol after Long-range Transport
Managing Impacts of Global
Transport of Atmosphere-surface Exchangeable Pollutants in the Context of
Global Change
Recent
publications
Auer, MT, Auer, NA, Urban NR, Auer T. 2013.
Distribution of the amphipod Diporeia in Lake
Superior: the Ring of Fire, J. Great Lakes Res.
39(1):33-46.
Bennington, V, McKinley G, McDonald CP, Urban NR, 2012. Can spatial heterogeneity explain
the
perceived imbalance in Lake Superior’s carbon budget: a modeling study. J.
Geophys. Res. – Biogeosciences, 117: G03020, DOI 10.1029/2011JG001895RR.
McDonald, CP, Bennington V, Urban NR, McKinley GA, 2012. 1-D test-bed calibration of a 3-D
Lake Superior biogeochemical model, Ecological Modeling
225(1):115-126.
Atilla, N., McKinley, G.A., Bennington, V., Baehr,
M., Urban, N.R., DeGrandpre, M., Desai,
A.R., Wu, C. 2010,
Observed Variability of Lake Superior pCO2, Limnol.
Oceanogr.,
56(3):775-786.
McDonald,
C.P., Urban, N.R., Casey, C.M. 2010, Modeling
historical trends in Lake Superior
total
nitrogen concentrations, J. Great Lakes Res. 36(4):715-721.
McDonald,
C.P., Urban, NR, Barkach, JH, McCauley, D. 2009,
Copper profiles in the sediments
of a mining-impacted lake, Journal Soils
and Sediments, 10(3):343-349.
McDonald,
CP, Urban, NR, 2009, Using a model selection criterion to identify appropriate
complexity in aquatic biogeochemical
models, Ecol. Modeling, 221(3): 428-432.
Schultz, P., Urban NR, 2007, Effects of bacterial dynamics on organic
matter decomposition and
nutrient release from sediments: A modeling
study, Ecol. Modeling,
doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.
2007.06.026
Urban, NR, MT Auer, SA Green, D Apul, L Bub,
KD Elenbaas, X Lu, 2005, Carbon cycling in
L. Superior, J. Geophys.
Res., 110(C6): doi: 10.1029/2003JC002230 C06S90
Urban, NR, Apul, D.S.,
J.
Urban, NR, Y Chai, J Jeong,
2004, The benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) north of the
Keweenaw
Peninsula in
J.
Urban, NR, X. Lu, Y. Chai, D. Apul, 2004,
Sediment trap studies in
into
resuspension, cross-margin transport and carbon
cycling, J.
Chai, Y, NR Urban, 2004, 210Po and 210Pb
distributions and disequilibria in the near-shore
region of
Russ, ME, Ostrom, NE, Ostrom,
PH, Gandhi, H, Urban, NR, 2004, Temporal and spatial variations
in R:P ratios in
109(C10), DOI:10.1029/2003JC001890, C10S12
Churchill, JH,
Ralph, EA, Cates, AM, Budd, JR, Urban, NR, 2002, Observations of a negatively
buoyant
river plume in a large lake, Limnol. Oceanogr. 48(2):
884-894
Urban,
NR, Monte, AE, 2001, Sulfur burial in and release from the sediments of
Urban, NR, Sampson, CJ, Brezonik, PL, Baker, LA,
2001, Sulfur cycling in the water
column of
Urban,
NR, Ernst, K, Bernasconi, S, 1999, Incorporation of
sulfur into organic
matter during early diagenesis
of lake sediments, Geochim. Cosmochim.
Acta 63(6):837-853
Jeong, J, Urban, NR, Green, SA, 1999, Release of
Copper from Mine Tailings on the Keweenaw
Peninsula, J.
Urban, NR, Dinkel, C, Wehrli,
B, 1997, Solute transfer across the sediment surface of a
eutrophic lake:
Web Links
Research:
Coastal Ocean Program
Trout Lake Limnological Station
Long-term Ecological Research Program
NSF
NADP/NTN
Scientific Organizations
American Society for Limnology
& Oceanography
American Geophysical Union
American Chemical Society
IAGLR
Environmental Literature, Information, etc.
Elsevier
Publications Table of Contents
Environmental Encyclopedia,
MSDS info
NOAA's Drought Information Center
NOAA Public Affairs
USDA News
USGS Streamflow
Conditions
Great Lakes
Water Quality Trading Program
Great Lakes Information and Related Links
Great Lakes Commision
Great Lakes Information Network
Great Lakes Islands
Great Lakes Environmental Research
Laboratory
Great Lakes
Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Studies, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, Canada Centre for Inland Waters
Great Lakes National Program Office,
U.S.EPA
Great Lakes Information
Management Resource
Great Lakes Buoy
Data
Great Lakes Surface
Temperatures
Coastal
Engineering
KITES Project
(L. Superior)
Michigan Sea
Grant
Maintained by N.R. Urban
Last updated September 2004