Rachel E. Rosenberg Goldstein
Dr. Rachel Rosenberg Goldstein is a water quality specialist, analyzing water quality and the most effective ways to communicate about water. She is the co-project director for Extension and Outreach in CONSERVE, a Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food, & Health. Her current research includes evaluating roof-harvested rainwater quality, measuring neural responses to water reuse videos and assessing gardening as a stress management technique.
Departments/Units
- Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health
- CONSERVE Center for Sustainable Water Reuse, Food and Health
Areas of Interest
Environmental Microbiology; Water Reuse; Environmental Communication; Urban Agriculture; Wellness
Dr. Rachel Rosenberg Goldstein is a water quality specialist, analyzing the microbial quality of a variety of water types and produce grown with that water, the most effective ways to communicate about these issues and the perceptions and behaviors related to water use. She has published multiple peer-reviewed studies on the water quality and public health implications of the use of recycled water.
In addition, Dr. Goldstein is the co-project director of the Outreach and Extension team of CONSERVE, a USDA-funded Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food & Health. She is interested in integrating scientific research with the social sciences to develop creative solutions to environmental challenges and improve wellness for all.
Dr. Goldstein is currently working on projects evaluating the safety of roof-harvested rainwater for produce irrigation, measuring neural responses to water reuse videos, and determining the use of gardening as a stress management technique. In her role as the CONSERVE Outreach and Extension co-project director, Dr. Goldstein has communicated the importance of water reuse and shared related research findings through lectures, outreach events, peer-reviewed journal articles, fact sheets and multimedia productions.
Dr. Goldstein’s RRIPER (Rooftop Runoff Irrigating Produce Eaten Raw) program is a series of projects to evaluate the safety of using roof-harvested rainwater, soil contacted by the water, and produce grown with the water by analyzing E. coli and heavy metal concentrations. In addition, Dr. Goldstein and her University of Maryland Extension colleagues are working with urban farmers and community gardeners to better understand current needs and concerns around this issue and develop effective outreach materials and programming.
The Brain and Behavior Initiative awarded Dr. Goldstein and her collaborator in the Department of Psychology a 2019 seed grant for their project “Moving Beyond the ‘Yuck Factor’: Measuring brain responses to water reuse terms and determining if natural environmental images change responses." Dr. Goldstein’s BBI seed grant explores if water reuse videos and nature images and videos can module responses to water reuse and other environmental challenge terms.
Prior to her career at the University of Maryland, Dr. Goldstein worked as an environmental communications specialist providing communications support to the US Environmental Protection Agency on a number of environmental issues, including water conservation. She received a PhD in Toxicology and Environmental Health, an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Maryland and a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
PhD, Toxicology and Environmental Health, 2013
University of Maryland, College Park
MPH, Environmental Health Sciences, 2010
University of Maryland, College Park
BA, Environmental Studies, 2005
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
MIEH 600 Foundations of Environmental Health
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Cornerstone Award: Optimize Urban Environments Through Design, Green Technology, and Community Engagement. Rooftop Runoff Irrigating Produce Eaten Raw (RRIPER) Program, May 2020
Video Communication Award, National Finalist, National Association County Agricultural Agents (NACAA), May 2020
Video Communication Award, State Winner, National Association County Agricultural Agents (NACAA), April 2020
Delta Omega, Gamma Zeta Chapter, University of Maryland School of Public Health, the Honorary Society in Public Health, 2011
Dean’s Fellowship, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Fall 2010 – May 2013
Maryland Water Resources Research Center 2010 Summer Fellowship, University of Maryland, College Park, May-August, 2010
Dean’s Graduate Scholar, University of Maryland, College Park, March 2010
American Public Health Association Environment Section's Student Achievement Poster Award, APHA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 2009
Phi Beta Kappa, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005
Gerdes M, Suri MR, and Rosenberg Goldstein RE. 2020. Traditional approaches for educating farmers about nontraditional water: Evaluating preferred outreach, education, and methods for alleviating concerns. Journal of Environmental Management. 270.
Dong Y, Jiang C, Suri MR, Pee D, Meng L, Rosenberg Goldstein RE. 2019. Groundwater level changes in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, 2002-2016. Environmental Research. 171: 193-203
Suri MR, Dery JL, Pérodin J, Brassill NA, He X, Rock CM, Rosenberg Goldstein RE. 2019. Agricultural adaptation for climate change: U.S. farmers' perceptions and willingness to use nontraditional water sources for agricultural irrigation. Environmental Research. 172: 345-357.
Murray RT, Rosenberg Goldstein RE, Maring EF, Pee DG, Aspinwall K, Wilson SM, Sapkota AR. 2018. Prevalence of Microbial and Chemical Contaminants in Private Drinking Water Wells in Maryland, USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 15(8): 1686.
Goldstein RR, Lara M. Kleinfelter, Xin He, Shirley A. Micallef, Ashish George, Shawn G. Gibbs, Amy R. Sapkota. 2017. Higher prevalence of coagulase-negative staphylococci carriage among reclaimed water spray irrigators. Sci Total Environ, 595: 35-40.
Rosenberg Goldstein RE, Cruz-Cano R, Jiang C, Palmer A, Blythe D, Ryan P, Hogan B, White B, Dunn JR, Libby T, Tobin-D’Angelo M, Huang JY, McGuire S, Scherzinger K, Ting Lee M-L and Sapkota AR. 2016. Association between community socioeconomic factors, animal feeding operations, and campylobacteriosis incidence rates: Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), 2004–2010. BMC Infectious Diseases 16:354.
Rosenberg Goldstein RE, Micallef SA, Gibbs SG, He X, George A, Sapkota A, Joseph SW and Sapkota AR. 2014. Occupational Exposure to Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp. among Spray Irrigation Workers Using Reclaimed Water. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 11(4): 4340-4355
Rosenberg Goldstein RE, Micallef SA, Gibbs SG, George A, Claye E, Sapkota A, Joseph SW, and Sapkota AR. 2014. Detection of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) at Four U.S. Wastewater Treatment Plants that Provide Effluent for Reuse. Science of the Total Environment. 466-467:404-11.
Rosenberg Goldstein RE, Micallef SA, Gibbs SG, Davis JA, George A, Kleinfelter LM, Schreiber NA, Mukherjee S, Sapkota A, Joseph SW, and Sapkota AR. 2012. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Detected At Four U.S. Wastewater Treatment Plants. Environmental Health Perspectives. 120(11): 1551-1558.
Micallef SA, Rosenberg Goldstein RE, George A, Kleinfelter LM, Boyer MS, McLaughlin CR, Estrin A, Ewing L, Jean-Gilles Beaubrun J, Hanes DE, Kothary MH, Tall BD, Razeq JH, Joseph SW, and Sapkota AR. 2012. Occurrence and Antibiotic Resistance of Multiple Salmonella Serotypes Recovered from Water, Sediment and Soil on Mid-Atlantic Tomato Farms. Environmental Research. 114:31-9.