Josh Sharp

Professor
Colorado School of Mines

Jonathan (Josh) Sharp is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Associate Director of the Mining Sustainability Center at Colorado School of Mines. He also served as Director of the Hydrologic Science and Engineering Program from 2018-2023. Professor Sharp’s research focuses on the implications of biological processes on water quality and reuse in both natural and engineered settings. It is grounded in a multidisciplinary approach that combines molecular, microbiological, and geochemical tools to address fundamental and applied questions at the interface of environmental engineering, microbiology and hydrology. With an increasingly heavy emphasis on empirical and field-based work, alumni from his laboratory have gone on to influential positions in government, academia, and industry. Dr. Sharp received his BA in Geosciences from Princeton University, MS and PhD in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and conducted postdoctoral training in Environmental Microbiology at the Ecole Polytechnique (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. His research has been sponsored by agencies that include the NSF, DOE, EPA, DoD, and USGS. Josh has received teaching and research accolades that include a National Science Foundation CAREER Young Investigator Award, a Colorado School of Mines Excellence in Research Award and was named a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences.