Our Team

Asli Aslan, MSc, PhD

Director of the Institute for Water and Health

Dr. Asli Aslan is the Founding Director of the Institute for Water and Health. She is also an Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Georgia Southern University since 2013. Her current research quantifies microbial and chemical hazards and exposures in the coastal environment, household systems, private and community wells, and defines the most appropriate water treatment interventions. She has been serving in various state and federal agencies and organizations as an advisor, reviewer, scientific committee member, and affiliated faculty. She is the co-founder and currently co-chair of the Water and Health Committee of the American Public Health Association. 

Prior to joining Georgia Southern, she was a Research Assistant Professor at Michigan State University and she was the co-founder and co-director of IC-Sewage, a global scientific workgroup affiliated with the International Water Association that developed global testing protocols for tracking microbial pollution in global water resources. She oversaw initiatives to train local health departments in adopting rapid beach monitoring methods. 

She was born and raised in Istanbul, where she completed her graduate studies in microbial oceanography. During the early years of her career, she oversaw the first beach restoration project of the Metropolitan City of Istanbul. She has over 20 years of experience in the field with significant time spent on research vessels during oceanographic expeditions and environmental laboratories. Asli lives in Savannah with her husband Mete and son. 

Luke Roberson, MSc

Coordinator of Community Engagement and Outreach

Born and raised in Elizabethtown, KY, Luke has over 15 years of experience in environmental science and has worked with a diverse group of federal and state agencies, non-profits, and educational centers in his career. He specializes in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), working with volunteers, educators, and businesses in collecting and interpreting water quality data. He lives in Savannah, GA with his wife Kim and two kids.

Luke has undergraduate degrees in graphic design and biology from the University of Kentucky, and a Masters of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. He is a current DPH student at Georgia Southern University with a concentration in Community Health Behavior and Education.

Victoria Clower

Victoria Clower is a bright first-year doctoral candidate attending Georgia Southern University. She is studying Community Health Behavior and Education at Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health. She is passionate about community outreach and public education, especially in dealing with environmental issues. She volunteers her time with the Ogeechee Riverkeeper and works with the Adopt-A-Stream organization monitoring waterways in southeast Georgia. Victoria also enjoys conducting research in environmental health and hopes to one day run her own lab and become an Environmental Health Specialist

Reese Schumacher

Reese Schumacher is a third-year undergraduate student at Georgia Southern. She is studying Computer Science and Arabic and hopes to go into algorithm analysis with an emphasis on user experience design after she graduates. She grew up in Tyrone, GA, and has always been passionate about the environment and how people interact with it. Reese is currently a research assistant with the Institute for Water and Health and is applying her knowledge of software design to work on analyzing and displaying water data.

Timothy Kizza

Timothy Kizza is an International Student at Georgia Southern University pursuing an MPH (Biostatistics
core). Timothy holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering degree. Prior to enrolling in his master’s program,
Timothy worked as a Data manager at Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC) in Uganda, where he was born and raised. He led a team of data officers while working with a team of lab technicians and field entomologists on Malaria research-based projects to create new datasets and built on existing datasets. Findings from the studies he worked on helped to inform and influence decisions in malaria research. He has previously worked as an IT assistant in Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) where he was charged with providing IT support and ensuring that the country program team complies with the organization’s IT Policies.

He hopes to contribute by making use of research and data analysis skills learned in the MPH program. Timothy enjoys working with people. In his leisure time, he enjoys traveling and playing soccer.