Dominic Libera, PhD + Hydroclimatology Researcher 

I grew up in Elon, NC with a family that enjoyed being outdoors, backpacking, fishing, and rock climbing.  In my teen years, my brother and I would spend at least one weekend a month backpacking on the Appalachian Trail with our Boy Scout Troop.  We would practice Leave No Trace principles and were taught to be stewards of our environment.  All water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning had to be purified by filters and carried from shelter to shelter. We were trained on the potential harms of drinking untreated water at an early age and took great care to protect our personal water supply.  Through these experiences I grew passionate about preserving and caring for the environment and its natural water systems.

 

In college I pursued a B.S. in Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University, awarded in 2011.  My first summer after freshman year I decided to do a summer study abroad program in Hangzhou, China.  My courses ended a week earlier than my classmates, which created an opportune time to take an adventure. I took an overnight train to the more rural parts of China to see the Terracotta Army ( Bing·ma·yong (兵马俑)) in Xi'An.  On my trip I witnessed serious infrastructural problems like the lack of access to clean drinking water, flooding problems, and poor sanitation.  It made me realize how privileged and fortunate it is to have access to safe and reliable water resources.  At 19 years old, on a solo expedition in rural China, I felt like I had found my calling in life. 

 

I continued studying water resource engineering in graduate school at NCSU.  During my masters and doctorate years, I was fortunate to participate in competitive research programs like the SE CASC Global Change Fellowship and teaching programs like the Preparing the Professoriate Program.  Afterwards I did a postdoc in Florida where I researched groundwater dominated systems and the food-energy-water nexus to improve the water supply infrastructures and ultimately human health.  After a few years I moved back to NC to work as a postdoc in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NCSU, working in the Watershed Ecology Lab.  Our work collaborated with the U.S. Forest Service to quantify the benefits that upstream forests provide to drinking water consumers.  In 2022, I joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service to work as a Hydrologist within the National Wildlife Refuge System.  My work investigates the linkages between harmful water quality conditions and wildlife mortality events.  We hope to learn about the water quality drivers of cyanotoxin production and aim to mitigate these conditions to preserve wildlife health on refuges.