Joan B. Rose, Ph.D.

Joan Rose has made groundbreaking advances in understanding water quality and protecting public health for more than 20 years. 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. Among her honors, Rose was named as one of the 21 most influential people in water in the twenty-first century by Water Technology Magazine (2000) and received the 2001 Clarke Prize from NWRI for her advances in microbial water-quality issues. Rose joined Michigan State University in 2003 as the Homer Nowlin Chair for Water Research. Currently, she is one of only a handful of scientists around the world today who are examining the relationship between climate, water quality, and public health. 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.