Natalie Nelson

Bio

Dr. Natalie Nelson is the Principal Investigator of the Biosystems Analytics Lab in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at NC State. She received her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Florida with the support of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and she has conducted research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center as a Research Affiliate and NSF Graduate Research Intern. Dr. Nelson joined BAE in August 2017.

Dr. Nelson’s research takes a data-intensive, management-focused, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of complex biological system dynamics. Her specific research interests include: using data analytics and integrated models to inform agriculture, aquaculture, water, and coastal resources management; estimating estuarine system futures as a function of local and global change; identifying risks to food security in coastal basins; linking data mining and mechanistic modeling approaches; and investigating spatial and temporal dynamics of socio-environmental systems across settings and scales.

Publications

• In-season yield forecasting using multitemporal remote sensing environmental observations and machine learning: Applications for sweetpotato in North Carolina, USA , EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY (2026)
• Day-ahead statistical forecasting of algal bloom risk to support reservoir release decisions in a highly engineered watershed , JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (2025)
• Forecasting interannual abundance of Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) , ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY (2025)
• Gaps in US livestock data are a barrier to effective environmental and disease management , ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS (2025)
• Quantifying Summer Internal Phosphorus Loading in Large Lakes across the United States , ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (2025)
• See Salt: Recommendations for engaging oyster growers in community-based coastal monitoring programs , ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT (2025)
• Simulating fluvial sediment pulses using remote sensing and machine learning: Development of a modeling framework applicable to data rich and scarce regions , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEDIMENT RESEARCH (2025)
• Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Drivers of Microbial Contaminants in Hurricane Florence Floodwaters , ACS ES&T WATER (2025)
• Surface waters in socially vulnerable areas are disproportionately under-monitored for nutrients in the US South Atlantic-Gulf region , NATURE WATER (2025)
• Synthesis of Observed Field Salinity Ranges for Oyster and Seagrass Species in the US , ESTUARIES AND COASTS (2025)