For Anjana Adhikari, pursuing a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee has meant taking science beyond the laboratory — into Great Lakes waters, communities affected by harmful algal blooms and research sites around the world.
Adhikari is entering her fifth year in the Environmental Health Sciences PhD program at the Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health and expects to graduate in December 2026. Working with Professor Todd R. Miller, she studies freshwater harmful algal blooms, the toxins they produce and their potential effects on human and environmental health.
Her path to environmental health began with a foundation in chemistry. Adhikari earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and later worked in a biophysics laboratory at the Medical College of Wisconsin. That experience helped clarify what she wanted from graduate study.
“I realized I wanted my degree and work to help identify, diagnose and mitigate environmental issues with a direct impact on public health,” Adhikari said.
She began looking for graduate opportunities that would combine her chemistry background with her interest in environmental health. When an advisor at Carroll shared information about UWM’s Environmental Health Sciences program, Adhikari met Miller, visited his laboratory and learned about his research on harmful algal blooms.
“It felt like the perfect fit for my graduate research interests and where I want to build my career,” she said.
Studying harmful algal blooms from the Great Lakes to Oregon
Adhikari’s doctoral research draws on aquatic chemistry, environmental science and analytical chemistry to better understand harmful algal blooms and cyanotoxins — toxic compounds that can be produced by certain types of cyanobacteria.
Her work includes studying the relationship between nutrients and toxin production in Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and Lake Erie. She also analyzes cyanopeptides found in lake water and tap water in a rural Oregon community and is developing methods to more effectively measure cyanotoxins in fish tissue.
The research gives Adhikari opportunities to follow environmental health questions wherever they lead. Rather than working exclusively in a laboratory, she has participated in field sampling, community-engaged research and projects in locations including the Great Lakes, Oregon and Kenya.
That combination has been one of the most valuable aspects of working with Miller.
“Being able to drive the pace of your research, sampling where the issue is, having opportunities to present your research at national and international conferences, and communicating science to communities have made us real-life researchers aware of the environment, more than just lab-based expertise,” Adhikari said.
Research with a direct connection to communities
One of Adhikari’s most meaningful experiences involved working with residents near Tenmile Lake in Oregon. The community relies on lake water for drinking and household uses, while the lake can experience algal blooms for extended periods.
Adhikari helped analyze samples to better understand what was present in the water, whether contaminants could pose a public health risk and how the findings could be communicated to residents.
The experience demonstrated the direct connection between environmental research and public health that originally attracted her to the field.
“The opportunity to see what is in the water and whether it is a public health risk, and to communicate the results to the community to make them aware of possible exposure, has been meaningful,” she said. “It is a small effort to use our research to protect public health by studying environmental health.”
That practical focus extends throughout her doctoral training. Students in Miller’s lab can gain experience developing experiments, collecting environmental samples, operating sophisticated analytical instrumentation, troubleshooting research methods, analyzing complex data and communicating results to both scientific and public audiences.
Preparing for a career in environmental research
After completing her PhD, Adhikari hopes to continue working in environmental research. She says the breadth of her doctoral experience has prepared her for the realities of applied environmental science, where researchers often need to manage projects from the field through the laboratory and ultimately communicate what the findings mean.
Her training has included coordinating sample collection, traveling for field research, troubleshooting scientific instruments, optimizing complex analytical workflows, communicating science and contributing to scientific publications.
“My program allowed me to take ownership of these processes — from field collection to finalizing scientific publications — ensuring I can hit the ground running in an applied environmental science role,” she said.
For prospective doctoral students, Adhikari says the Environmental Health Sciences PhD can be particularly valuable for those who want their research to address tangible environmental and public health challenges.
“This program is perfect for anyone interested in public health and who wants to develop the skills needed to address environmental health challenges,” she said.
Students have opportunities to move beyond theory into hands-on research — whether determining which nutrients contribute to harmful algal blooms, identifying toxins in environmental samples or examining how contaminants affect animals and people.
That experience, Adhikari said, can prepare graduates for environmental research careers in government agencies, laboratories and other organizations responsible for protecting public and environmental health.
“The experience teaches you to interpret data in line with EPA health advisories and WHO guidelines,” she said, “ensuring that your research directly helps protect our drinking water systems.”
Interested in pursuing a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences?
Students interested in working with Todd Miller in his laboratory are encouraged to send him an email at:
millertr@uwm.edu.