Alissa Cox earned her PhD in URI’s Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Microbiology (LSEM), and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Natural Resources Science department at URI, and the new Director of the New England Onsite Wastewater Training Program. Before pursuing her PhD, Alissa received a B.S. and M.S. degree in Environmental Science, and spent several years teaching science and special education in high schools in Providence and Coventry, RI. Her research focuses on understanding groundwater table dynamics along the southern Rhode Island coast, to assess how changes in the groundwater table may be affecting current and future onsite wastewater treatment systems in near shore coastal areas. Additionally, Alissa is interested in how the microbial communities in soils and various treatment components in different technologies affect nutrient and contaminant transformations, and how they affect greenhouse gas emissions. Effective outreach and education remain central to Alissa’s interests, and she shares her research findings with stakeholders to help improve the resiliency of coastal communities facing myriad future changes and threats. She currently serves as the coordinator of the USDA Hatch Multi-state Research Project NE2045 related to onsite wastewater treatment and climate change.

Lisa Hollister completed her M.S. degree in Natural Resources Science at URI and worked in habitat restoration for nearly a decade before joining URI’s Cooperative Extension in 2011.  She joined the NEOWTP in 2015 as Training Coordinator. Lisa manages the NEOWTP online registration system, provides administrative support to all aspects of the program, and assists with community outreach.