Dr. Druschel has spent much of his career working at the intersection of geology, chemistry, and biology to understand better ways earth processes work and impact human society. As an NSF CAREER awardee this was solidified as he worked on specific mineral interactions with water and microbes but also found other avenues of inquiry in areas including water quality, mineral impacts on human health, and chemical signatures of life preserved in ancient rocks or other planets. Being at an Urban campus has shaped the way he views the environment as a setting, one where humans, both individually and as part of society, impact, and are impacted by, their surroundings. He has been developing ways to integrate teaching and research with communities and doing this in a way to bear in mind mutual benefit for our students and our communities.
We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
Aldo Leopold
Q and A with Gregory Druschel
My work as a Bantz Community Fellow was, and continues to be, focused on how we can more effectively work at the intersection of science and society. In many ways, the students, who show such passion and energy towards working to better their environment, and the community members, who show care and genuine interest to learn and teach about their environment, have inspired this journey.
This research is about how to bring student experiences – as a class, and as research projects – into the community in a way that generates mutual benefit, inspires learners to pursue careers in these fields, and to build public trust and partnership with the university and with science writ large.
Locally it is our hope to provide actionable information to individuals and to community groups regarding the state of their neighborhoods – a focus is on environmental impacts, but this is both regarding how our environment impacts us, and how we impact our environment. Activities with students to date have brought information to communities in Indianapolis concerning lead in soils and inside homes, historical groundwater chlorinated solvent spill impacting urban farming efforts, microplastic distributions in parks, neighborhoods and gardens, water quality and water supply in our drinking water reservoirs, and climate impacts on human health. Interaction with the community to do this work brings students new perspectives and local knowledge, teaches them directly how to better and more effectively communicate complex scientific concepts, and builds ties with our community partners.
Working with the students and community members – getting to a point to see how our emerging scientists can make an impact and how our community can impact their learning in a positive way.
My hobbies include hiking, cooking, and woodworking. I enjoy spending time with my family – I have three kids and a wonderful partner.
Students are both a fundamental part of the research – as we design ways to better incorporate teamwork, ethics, community engagement and communication into science concepts and practice – and active researchers themselves. Student led science projects are also a central piece where they build specific research projects aligned with community needs. Examples include student assessment of lead in garden, vacuum dust, and water samples, student evaluation of microplastic distributions and metallic slag waste in urban farmland, and student bathymetric mapping of Eagle Creek Reservoir.
We work closely with several community groups – The KHEPRW Institute, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Marott Woods Preserve, Eagle Creek Park, and the White River Alliance. These groups help us facilitate work within communities and with community members. Our relationships with them are critical to developing and maintaining a sustainable teaching and research effort.
We are developing the Urban Field Course into a semester-based class and have brought in a wider diversity of faculty and perspectives to the content and approach. We hope to develop this into a course that then feeds into many undergraduate and graduate research projects, each linked to community needs, and with a goal of effectively communicating those results back to the community.
Conversation with Gregory Druschel
Join us on Friday, May 29, 2026 from 12 noon to 1 p.m., featuring Gregory Druschel as he encourages us to consider how we can bring science into our communities in a way that creates opportunities for learning and scientific advancement and builds community trust. This cannot be done without also building relationships, over time, with our communities, and respecting that community partners have much to contribute to these endeavors, to the benefit of our students and our disciplines.
Interested in Becoming an IU Indianapolis TRIP Scholar?
Eligibility
IU Indianapolis faculty member conducting translational community-based research
Benefits
- Valued member of an extensive network of researchers/collaborators
- Opportunities to showcase work
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