Margaret Gitau received her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2003. She also holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

Before joining the faculty at Purdue, Dr. Gitau was an Associate Professor at Florida A&M University, where she focused on coastal and near-coastal water resource systems. She also previously held a postdoctoral appointment in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue. She serves as Associate Editor for the Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Applied Engineering in Agriculture, and the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation and also as a reviewer for various internationally recognized journals.

Dr. Gitau’s research areas include hydrologic and water quality modeling, fate and transport of critical contaminants, understanding of the associated ecological responses, trends and impacts of land use, land management and climate on water resources, sustainable water resources management, and the development of computer and internet-based applications.