Meet Reid Christianson

Meet Reid Christianson, a Research Assistant Professor in Crop Sciences and a member of our Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration SWATeam.

Christianson joined the U of I in May 2017 after previous positions at the Center for Watershed Protection in Maryland, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma State University. Being at Illinois, he says, gives him an interesting opportunity to make a difference.

“I feel strongly, as a land grant institution, we have a responsibility to demonstrate best practices associated with land management activities (particularly agriculture),” he said. “Being new to the team and the University, I have yet to be fully immersed in all campus activities; however, agriculture, land use, food, and sequestration all play a huge role in life at Illinois.”

As a former civil engineer who designed stormwater infrastructure, Christianson brings an interesting perspective to his team. He’s most excited about ideas that allow for the quantification of potential impact.

“Faculty, staff, and students have a near endless supply of ideas to mitigate our impacts on the environment,” he said. “As a university, we’re good at generating ideas. Some ideas are broadly applicable, but often we’re finding solutions to very specific problems. I’m a numbers guy, so let’s run some scenarios and do some math!”

Overall, Christianson hopes to spark imagination within his SWATeam to find critical solutions to campuswide issues — and to make positive changes here at Illinois.

 

Return to Zero Waste SWATeam page

Return to Land & Water SWATeam page

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