Kyle Hoagland received his B.S. from Michigan State University in zoology, then a M.S. from Eastern Michigan University in aquatic ecology. He returned to Nebraska for a Ph.D. in life sciences from UNL in 1981. After completing his degree, he spent a year at the University of Maine doing work on acid rain, a year at LSU in Baton Rouge teaching botany to 250 attentive undergraduates, and then on to his first faculty position at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he was for seven years.

In 1990, Kyle again returned to Nebraska, this time as a faculty member in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries & Wildlife. His research is in the area of water quality, particularly the effects of herbicides on streams and reservoirs, and on the ecology of algae. Dr. Hoagland has published over 60 research papers and book chapters on his work, and since 1990 has received more than $3 M in grant support.

He has taught courses on lakes, streams and wetlands, including courses at UNL's Cedar Point Biological Station near Ogallala. He is director of the Water Center in the School of Natural Resources at UNL and now leads the Water Resources Research Initiative.

Sheri Fritz is a Willa Cather Professor at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, with appointments in the Department of Geosciences and School of Biological Sciences.  She is interested in the interface of geological, biological, and atmospheric sciences and works on contemporary lakes and their geologic record.  Her research interests are in long-term environmental change, particularly using the fossil record both to reconstruct natural patterns of climate variation and to evaluate human impact on lakes.  She has active research projects on the drought history of the Great Plains and northern Rocky Mountains, on long-term climate change in the tropical Andes, and on the biogeochemistry of lakes in mid-continental North America.

Fritz is a member of the U.S. National Committee of the International Quaternary Union (INQUA), under the auspices of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and also serves as a councilor on the Commission for Paleoecology and Human Evolution in INQUA.  In addition, she is on the editorial board of three major journals in earth sciences.

Ron Yoder is Associate Director of Extension and Agricultural Research for Agricultural Water Management, and Professor and Head in the Biological Systems Engineering Department.  He has been a faculty member and department head at the University of Tennessee, an agricultural engineer at the University of Wyoming, and with Hertzler Farm and Livestock Co., and a research agricultural engineer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service in Colorado and in Washington state.

Yoder received his bachelor of science in civil engineering from Drexel University, his master of science in agricultural engineering from Clemson University, and his doctorate in agricultural engineering from Colorado State University.  He has taught courses in irrigation and waste management system design, surveying, monitoring hydrologic phenomena, and engineering design.  His areas of research interest are crop water measurement and management, water quality assessment and improvement, subsurface transport of agrichemicals, and soil water measurement.  Recent publications include:

• Miranda, F. R., R. E. Yoder, and J. B. Wilkerson.  2005. An Autonomous Controller for Site-Specific Management of Fixed Irrigation Systems.  Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 48:183-197.
• Yoder, R. E., L. O. Odhiambo, and W. C. Wright.  2005.  Effects of Vapor Pressure Deficit and Net-Irradiance Calculation Methods on the Accuracy of the Standardized Penman-Monteith Equation in a Humid Climate.  ASCE J. of Irr. and Dr. 131(3):228-237.
• Yoder, R. E., L. O. Odhiambo, and W. C. Wright.  2005.  Evaluation of Methods for Estimating Daily Reference Crop Evapotranspiration at a Site in the Humid Southeast of USA.  Applied Engineering in Agriculture 21(2):197-202.
• Li, J., R. E. Yoder, L. O. Odhiambo, and J. Zhang.  2004.  Simulation of Nitrate Distribution Under Drip Irrigation Using Artificial Neural Networks. Irrigation Science 23:29-37.
• Odhiambo, L. O., R. S. Freeland, R. E.  Yoder, and J. W. Hines.  2004.  Investigation of a Fuzzy-Neural Network Application in Classification of Soils using Ground-Penetrating Radar Imagery.  Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 20(1):1-9.

Sandra Zellmer joined the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2003, where she serves as a law professor and Hevelone Research Chair, with a courtesy appointment in the School of Natural Resources.  Previously, she was a member of the faculty at the University of Toledo College of Law and a visiting professor at both Tulane and Drake University Law Schools.

Professor Zellmer is a member of the steering committee for UNL’s Water Resources Research Initiative. She teaches and writes about natural resources, water conservation and use, environmental law, property, and related topics. She recently published a casebook, Natural Resources Law with Professors Laitos, Cole and Wood (Thomson/West 2006).

Recent articles include:

• A New Corps of Discovery for Missouri River Management, 83 Neb. L.Rev. 401 (2004)
• A Preservation Paradox: Political Prestidigitation and an Enduring Resource of Wildness, 34 Env’l. L. 1015 (2004)
• Managing Interjurisdictional Water Resources, 18 NR & E 8 (2003) (with Mark Squillace)
• Biodiversity In and Around McElligot's Pool, 38 U. Id. L.Rev. 473 (2002) (with Scott Johnson)
• The Virtues of Command and Control Regulation:  Barring Exotic Species from Aquatic Ecosystems through the Clean Water Act, 2000 U. Ill. L.Rev. 1233 (2000).

Zelmer is active in the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy and Resources, and has served as the section's Chair of the Committee on Marine Resources. She is also a trustee for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation anda member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reforom and the Resilience Alliance.