Emma Thrift-Cahall is a postdoctoral researcher co-advised by Dr. Jingqiu Liao and Dr. Amy Pruden in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. In LEAPH, her research explores the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), examining how microbial communities, climate, land use, and social factors interact to influence the emergence, persistence, and spread of AMR across soil and aquatic ecosystems.

Emma earned her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, where she worked with Dr. Jennifer Tank in the Department of Biological Sciences. Her dissertation investigated how environmental conditions and agricultural management practices influence the fate and transport of antimicrobial resistance genes in agricultural streams. As part of her interdisciplinary training, she also enjoys integrating science policy and science communication into her research.

Outside of research, Emma enjoys training her pit bull, Raina, creating artwork and sharing it through local art markets, and hiking by rivers and mountains.