Nichole Brinkman is a microbiologist with EPA's Office of Research and Development. Her research is centered around waterborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance determinants in the environment. Nichole is currently involved in research projects to study microbial community profiles in US aquatic resources, quantify pathogen loads in alternative source water to determine risk‐based reduction targets for safe reuse in decentralized reuse applications, develop viral surrogates to monitor treatment efficacy in decentralized reuse systems and dissemination of waterborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance determinants in the environment. She is also a member of EPA/ORD's SARSCoV‐2 wastewater monitoring team. Nichole received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Cincinnati.