2022 El Dia del Agua y la Atmosfera Conference Huge Success

2022 El Dia del Agua y la Atmosfera Conference a Huge Success

After many months of preparation and hard work, the 2022 El Día del Agua y la Atmósfera student research conference took place during Earth Week on Tuesday, March 22 at the Environmental Science and Natural Resources (ENR2) Building. The day-long event featured fabulous posters, outstanding oral presentations, and congenial networking among students, faculty, alumni, friends, and visiting students. We're pleased to report that the event was a resounding success! The day began with a breakfast reception made possible in part by the Campus Sustainability Fund and was followed by opening remarks from HAS Department Head, Dr. Tom Meixner, and the El Dia Student Conference Coordinator, Robert 'Quinn' Hull.

Recognition was given to Dennis R. Scheall, retired Director of Instruction and Research Support for Hydrology & Water Resources. Dennis was the organizer of the first annual El Dia del Agua (EDDA) in 1991. Dennis was handed the “simple” task of organizing this event from scratch in a year’s time with one overriding objective – to make it a success. He did make the first EDDA a success with everyone who attended the event – students and faculty in Hydrology & Water Resources (HWR) and from other departments, alumni, and professionals from industry, consulting firms, and non-governmental and governmental agencies. View and read more about Dennis Scheall in our 2022 El Día Program.

Janene Yazzie of Sixth World Solutions, Sandy Fabritz of Freeport McMoRan, and Terri Sue Rossi of the Arizona Water Company presented a very engaging Keynote Panel on Water Security in the Arid Southwest, which was moderated by Mekha Pereira. This was followed by the first poster session in the scenic ENR2 courtyard. The first oral presentation session, moderated by student Alcely Lau, preceded lunch upstairs. The luncheon featured a nice talk by Steve Waters, HAS alumnus and Flood Warning Branch Manager at Flood Control District of Maricopa County. The luncheon event was moderated by student Brandon Mitchell. Following lunch, activities included two oral presentation sessions, moderated by HAS students Abigail Kahler and Hannah Haugen respectively, and an additional poster session. The penultimate piece of programming featured a career conversation between HAS alumni Alyssa Kirk, Eleonora Demaria, Jon Rohr, and Steve Waters and moderated by Alcely Lau.

Legacy Sponsors

Montgomery Prize - Errol L. Montgomery & Associates, Inc., prize for the most outstanding oral presentation of the event - $2,500 Prize

Amanda Triplett - Climate Warming-Driven Changes In The Cryosphere And Their Impact On Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions In The Heihe River Basin

Hargis Awards - Hargis+Associates, Inc., awards for the most outstanding technical presentations (poster format) of the event - First Prize $1,000 and Second Prize $400

Ben West (First Prize) - Implementing reservoir operations in ParFlow, a fully integrated physical hydrology model

Danielle Rehwoldt (Second Prize) - Hydrochemical assessment of rare earth elements in various formation water types in the Paradox Basin

Benjamin M. Herman Award - Sponsored by colleagues of Ben Herman: R. Curran, J. Reagan, and E. Betterton, award for excellence in technical presentation in the area of Atmospheric Sciences (oral format) - $1,000 Prize

Reza Ehsani - Nowcasting-Nets: Representation Learning for Satellite-based Precipitation Nowcasting using Convolutional and Recurrent Neural Networks

Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Awards of Excellence - Department-sponsored award for excellence in technical presentation (oral format & poster format) - $400 Prizes

Mostafa Javadian (oral format) - Canopy temperature is regulated by ecosystem structural traits and captures the ecohydrologic dynamics of a semiarid mixed conifer forest site

Adam Stratman (poster forma) - Origins and Residence Times of Water Supporting O’Donnell Creek Cienega in Southeastern Arizona

Donald R. Davis Undergraduate Distinction Award - Outstanding undergraduate student award sponsored by the Donald R. Davis Endowment - $400 Prize

Stella Heflin - Bias-Adjusted Satellite-Based and Reanalysis Products Show Agreement in Estimating North American Monsoon Season Precipitation

Eugene S. Simpson Undergraduate Prize in Hydrogeology or Subsurface Hydrology - Outstanding undergraduate poster award sponsored by the Eugene S. Simpson Endowment - $400 Prize

Dylan Girone - A Forecast Evaluation of the North American Summer Monsoon Precipitation near Arizona in Recent Years

Corporate and Agency Awards

Arizona Hydrological Society - Best Hydrology Oral Presentation

Diana Hsieh - Using Isotopes and Modeling to Determine Effects of Rock Dams on Infiltration

Pima County Flood Control - Outstanding Oral Presentation

Patricia Puente - Connections Between Low Frequency Streamflow Extremes and Non-Linear Dynamics in the Upper Colorado Basin

Salt River Project - Outstanding Oral Presentation

Luis De la Fuente - HYDRO-LSTM: A Hydrological Approach to LSTM Machine Learning Based Modeling

Stanley N. Davis Outstanding Poster in Hydrology, Sponsored by Peter Mock Groundwater Consulting, Inc.

Xenia De Garcia - Conceptual Modeling of Mine Tailings Columns for Contaminant Reactive Transport Experiments

Matrix New World Engineering - Outstanding Oral Presentation

Sidian Chen - Pore-Scale Modeling of Multiphase Fluid Flow, Multispecies Transport, and Phase Change in Nanoporous Materials

Tucson Water - Outstanding Excellence in Technical Communication in Poster Format

Danielle Tadych - Exploring Connections Between Groundwater Storage and Management Settings Using Observations from Groundwater Wells and GRACE Data in Arizona

GeoSystem Analysis, Inc. - Best Applied Hydrogeology Oral Presentation

Chandler Noyes - Using Argon-39, Noble Gases, and Water Stable Isotopes to Infer Changes in Recharge to the Semi-Arid Tucson Basin (Arizona, USA) Over the Holocene

Pima County Department of Environmental Quality - Best Oral and Poster Awards

Camilo Salcedo (oral) - Near-Optimal Selection of Multi-Confirmatory Sampling Locations in Water Distribution Systems

Lauren Cutler (poster) - Re-Evaluation of Low-Cloud Amount Relationships with Lower-Tropospheric Stability and Estimated Inversion Strength

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to prepare for the day's events. You guys made this event. Although many folks dedicated hours of time, special thanks are deserved for Abigail Kahler, Alcely Lau, Reza Ehsani, and Erma Santander for especially heavy lifts!

Thank you to our Event Sponsors!

Grant Support

Our Wonderful Sponsors

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Merci ~ Gracias ~ Danke ~ Arigato ~ Thank you!

The El Día Planning Committee

Leadership

Student Support

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Miguel Hilario Wins AGU Outstanding Graduate Presentation Award

March 2, 2022

Photo: Miguel Hilario, HAS graduate student (MS ATMO), making a poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in December 2021.

Congratulations to Miguel Hilario who recently received an Outstanding Graduate Presentation Award from the American Geophysical Union for his poster presentation at the AGU's December 2021 meeting. This highly competitive award is made only for the most exceptional graduate presenters at the annual fall conference.

Miguel presented a poster titled "Particulate Oxalate-to-Sulfate Ratio as an Aqueous Processing Marker: Consistency Across Field Campaigns and Limitations." His group's project is focused on leveraging aerosol data from multiple airborne and surface-based field campaigns encompassing diverse environmental conditions. They have identified a generally consistent oxalate-sulfate mass ratio, with a median of 0.0217 (95% confidence interval: 0.0154 – 0.0296; r = 0.76). Ground-based aerosol data has shown that the median oxalate-sulfate ratio is robust within both the mixed layer and the submicrometer particle size range, with higher values observed for supermicrometer particles. They demonstrated that dust and biomass burning emissions could separately bias this ratio towards higher values by at least one order of magnitude. Since sulfate is more readily measured, this ratio could be used to infer oxalate from sulfate in the absence of biomass burning and/or air masses rich with coarse aerosol types (especially dust). This ratio may also have implications for model estimates of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, and particularly the aqueous processing route for oxalate production.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Miguel and his faculty advisor, Joint Professor Armin Sorooshian!

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We Have Winners for 2021 El Dia del Agua y la Atmosfera!

April 25, 2021

Thanks to the generosity of our Legacy and Virtual Sponsors and the dedicated efforts of our esteemed panel of judges, we are pleased to announce the award and prize winners for this year’s El Dia del Agua y la Atmosfera student conference. Please join us in congratulating the following students who were selected for their outstanding performance in oral and poster presentation:

Montgomery Prize for Best Oral Presentation of Conference ($2500)

Chloe Fandel for A new tool to assess risk zones and optimize data collection in karst systems

Hargis Awards for Best Poster Presentations of Conference ($1000 and $600)

Dianna Hsieh for Groundwater depletion in Willcox, Arizona

Danielle Rehwoldt for Investigation of hydrochemical characteristics of rare earth elements in various formation water types in the Paradox basin

Benjamin Herman Award for Best Oral Presentation in Atmospheric Sciences ($1000)

Liling Chang for Large influence of climate variations on terrestrial water storage declines over the Euphrates river basin

Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Awards of Excellence for Oral and Poster Presentations ($400 and $400)

Mostafa Javadian for Global trends in evapotranspiration dominated by increases across large cropland regions

Alcely Lau for Assessment of rainfall forecasts based on canonical correlations of satellite remote sensing data

Donald R. Davis Undergraduate Distinction Award for Best Poster ($400)

Sierra Bettis for Carbon and nitrogen fluxes in green-infrastructure basins

Eugene S. Simpson Undergraduate Award for Best Poster in Hydrogeology, Subsurface Hydrology, or Groundwater ($400)

Matthew Ford for The impact of government dairy subsidies on groundwater levels in Arizona

Stanley N. Davis Award for Outstanding Poster in Hydrogeology ($500)

Amanda Triplett for Exploring the impacts of warming induced cryosphere changes on surface and groundwater storage in the Heihe river basin

Pima County Flood Control Best Virtual Oral Award ($500)

Luis De La Fuente for Using big-data to develop catchment-scale hydrological models for Chile

Salt River Project Best Virtual Oral Award ($500)

Jihyun Kim for Activation of deep groundwater flow in the Paradox basin

Arizona Hydrological Society-Tucson Chapter Best Virtual Oral Award ($500)

Sidian Chen for A pore-network-based upscaling framework for the thermodynamic phase change behaviors of multicomponent fluids in nanoporous media

Tucson Water - Michael Carpenter - Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences Best Virtual Poster Award ($400)

Chandler Noyes for Fossil groundwaters: Relict of past climates or flow system size?

Matrix New World Engineering Best Virtual Oral Award ($400)

Sunyi Yuan for Modeling atmospheric dispersion of pesticide particles in Yuma county

Geosystems Analysis, Inc. Best Virtual Poster Award ($300)

Davian Peterson for Hydrologic impacts of historic atmospheric rivers on the Rillito creek watershed in Tucson, Arizona

Pima County Department of Environmental Quality Best Virtual Oral and Poster Awards ($200 and $200)

Reza Ehsani for Assessment of very high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR) for snowfall retrieval in high latitudes using CloudSat and machine learning

Danielle Tadych for Exploring the impact of groundwater regulation and surface water availability on groundwater levels and pumping in Arizona

Earth Week 2021 Lightning Round Talks (Fifth Place)

Sidian Chen for A pore-network-based upscaling framework for the thermodynamic phase change behaviors of multicomponent fluids in nanoporous media 

Applause, applause! Please join us in congratulating our student winners wherever you see them, either in the halls of Harshbarger or at a virtual meeting. Well done, everyone!

 

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Xubin Zeng Interview Archived by StoryCorps & AGU Centennial Narratives Project

March 9, 2020

Congratulations to HAS Professor Xubin Zeng!

Nominated by the NASA science leadership to participate in the AGU Centennial Narratives Project during the annual fall meeting in 2019, Xubin's 25-minute interview has been added to the AGU Narratives Community on StoryCorps and was archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress on March 6, 2020. In the interview, he talks about the beauty and power of simple mathematics and its impact on his life and career.

The StoryCorps Archive comprises one of the largest digital collections of human voices in the world and is housed within the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The collection has given people of all backgrounds and beliefs the chance to record conversations about their lives. Their mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Congratulations and well done, Xubin!

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HAS Department and Hohai University Collaborate for New 3 + 2 Program in Hydrology

 

August 13, 2019

We have some very exciting news to share! The UA Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences and The Institute of Hydraulics and River Engineering Research at Hohai University, Nanjing, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on a new 3+2 degree program in hydrology! 

Up to 10 Hohai undergraduates per year will enter the HAS Bachelor's program (Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources emphasis) to complete their senior year at the University of Arizona. During that year, they will complete both undergraduate and graduate courses to satisfy requirements for their Bachelor's degree at Hohai University and also a UA HAS Undergraduate Certificate in Groundwater Hydrology. During the second year, they will complete graduate course work exclusively, ultimately completing a Master of Science degree in Hydrology. The program is similar to the department's Accelerated Master's Program for HAS undergraduate majors.

Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make this new program possible. We look forward to meeting our first cohort of Hohai students very soon!

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HAS Scientist Kyle Rine Sheds Light on Dust in the Desert Biome During Kyoto University-UA Biosphere 2's Space Camp Week

August 12, 2019

HAS Scientist Kyle Rine was among a multidisciplinary group of UA faculty and staff participating in a new Space Camp held last week at Biosphere 2 north of the UA Main Campus. HAS Distinguished Professor and Department Head Eric Betterton was also among the UA faculty who convened the six-day camp. The B2 Space Camp is a new collaboration between Kyoto University and the UA to help students gain insight into the importance of cooperative space exploration and the complexity that humanity's expansion into space will entail.

A diverse group of 10 undergraduate students--five from Kyoto University and five from colleges and universities across Arizona--with expertise in engineering, agriculture, and health sciences, worked together in three of Biosphere 2's biomes--the rainforest, the ocean, and the desert--to learn how future space explorers could survive, build, and manage closed systems in space. Students interacted with veteran NASA and JAXA astronauts, attended lectures, engaged in hands-on training, and were ultlimately tasked with designing Biopshere 3, a facility that could theoretically be built on Mars.

Kyle's talks focused on the challenges of living in the desert environment on Mars and how we might overcome those challenges based on our own experiences learning to survive in Earth's deserts. Discussion focused primarily on water mining from soil and the dangers associated with windblown dust, but students also learned about solar irradiance and dust, calculation of friction velocities, ambient air dust size profiling, and soil size distribution (soil screening).

For the past 3 years, the Space Camp, which originated in Japan, was hosted by Kyoto University. This year, for the first time, Kyoto expanded the program through a collaboration with the UA's Biosphere 2. Funding has been secured from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency through 2021, so this successful partnership will continue into the near future. Students were unanimous in their praise of this new collaborative effort. As UA sophomore and future astronaut Daniel McConville aptly noted, "learning alongside students from across the world is vital to the future of space exploration."

Learn more about the B2 Space Camp in this Tucson.com news article and this KOLD13 News video.

Great work, Kyle!

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University of Arizona Atmospheric Scientists Predict Above-Average Hurricane Season

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HAS Alumnus Dan Stephens Elected to National Academy of Engineering

February 11, 2019

Our heartiest congratulations go to Dr. Daniel B. Stephens, HAS alumnus, who was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering!

Stephens, Chairman of the Board and Principal Hydrologist of Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc., was elected with the Class of 2019 (Earth Resources) for "innovations in vadose zone hydrologic practice and theory." 

Awards and professional recognition have followed Dan throughout his life. In 2017, he was awarded the Groundwater Resources Association of California Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong dedication to the groundwater industry. Stephens has been acknowledged as a pioneer in his field of expertise, specifically, applied analyses of vadose (unsaturated) zone processes that play a vital role in quantifying groundwater recharge rates and understanding infiltration processes and contaminant transport. In 2004, he received the University of Arizona Alumni Association's Sydney S. Woods Alumni Service Award.

Stephens, a former student of Regents Professor Emeritus Shlomo P. Neuman, is the third student of Neuman's to be elected to the NAE in the past three years and now joins former students Dr. Jesus Carrera (Class of 2018) and Dr. Dongxiao Zhang (Class of 2017) as Academy members.

Dan began his private consulting in 1976 and completed his PHD in hydrology at the University of Arizona in 1979. In 1986, he left his position as chair of the Department of Geosciences at New Mexico Tech to apply his expertise in hydrogeology to public and private-sector clients who were facing challenges in complying with tough, new environmental regulations. With a modest start in Socorro, New Mexico, DBS&A grew to a $17-million corporation with seven offices in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. In 2015, DBS&A joined forces with Geo-Logic Associates (GLA) and now has 27 offices and more than 250 employees in the U.S. and abroad.

Congratulations, Dan, for this well deserved and outstanding achievement!

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Declining Snowpack Over Western U.S.: Xubin Zeng and team map 35 years  of change at a finer scale 

13 December 2018

A team of researchers led by UA HAS Professor Xubin Zeng has mapped exactly where in the Western U.S. snow mass has declined from 1982 to 2016. The team mapped the changes in snow mass onto a grid of squares 2.5-miles on a side over the entire contiguous U.S. "A person could practically find the trend for their neighborhood," said first author Zeng. "Grid size for previous studies was about 40 miles on a side. This is the first time anyone has assessed the trend at the 2.5-mile by 2.5-mile pixel level over the 35-year period (1982-2016)."

Researchers found that in some areas of the Western U.S., annual snow mass has decreased by 41 percent, while the Eastern U.S. has experienced very little decrease in snow mass. UA co-author, HAS alum, and UA SNRE research scientist Patrick Broxton said, "The big decreases are more often in the mountainous areas that are important for water supplies in the West."

Snow mass is how much water it contains, which is important in regions where winter snows and subsequent snow melt contribute substantially to water resources. Snow melt contributes to groundwater and to surface water sources, such as the Colorado River.

Zeng's team also found over the period 1982-2016, the snow season shrank by 34 days on average for squares that, if combined, would equal the size of Virginia. "The shortening of the snow season can be a late start or an early ending or both," Zeng said. "Over the Western U.S. an early ending is the primary reason. In contrast, in the Eastern U.S. the primary driver is a late beginning."

Temperature and precipitation during the snow season also have different effects in the West compared with the East. In the West, the multidecadal changes in snow mass are driven by the average temperature and accumulated precipitation for the season. The changes in the Eastern U.S. are driven primarily by temperature.

The paper, Snowpack Change from 1982 to 2016 Over Conterminous United States, by Zeng, Broxton, and their co-author Nick Dawson of the Idaho Power Company in Boise, Idaho, was published in Geophysical Research Letters on December 12.

Developing the new data set has allowed the UA-led team to examine changes in temperature, precipitation, and snow mass from 1982 to 2016 for every 2.5-mile by 2.5-mile square in the contiguous U.S., as well as to study how snow can affect weather and climate. "Snow is so reflective that it reflects a lot of the sunlight away from the ground. That affects air temperature and heat and moisture exchanges between the ground and the atmosphere," said Broxton.

Zeng, who holds the Agnese N. Haury Chair in Environment at the UA, is now working with NASA to figure out a way to use satellite measurements to estimate snow mass and snow depth. NASA and the UA's Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice funded the research.

For more details about their methodology and the data collected from on-the-ground measurements used to develop their new dataset--including COOP, SNOTEL, and PRISM--see Mari Jensen's UA News.org article here.

Congratulations, Xubin!

Other Media Presentations

Press conference at the American Geophysical Union's Annual Meeting, 9 a.m. Eastern Time in the Shaw/LeDroit Park Room, Level M3, Marriott Marquis, Washington, DC. Scientific presentation on December 13, 11:20 am, Salon G, Walter E. Washington Convention Center

Phoenix KJZZ on Wednesday, December 12

Arizona Public Media FM on Thursday, December 13

UA NOW on Thursday, December 13

Arizona Daily Star on Saturday, December 15

UA Science E-News on Wednesday, December 19

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David Gochis, UA HAS Alum and NCAR Scientist, Named AMS Fellow

October 3, 2018

Bravo to David Gochis, UA HAS alumnus and NCAR scientist, who was named a 2019 American Meteorological Society Fellow for his "outstanding contribution to atmospheric and hydrologic sciences through his career." David is currently the NCAR principal investigator on the WRF-Hydro Modeling System, an open-source community model that predicts streamflow and surface hydrology variables across the continental United States operating as the NOAA National Water Model.

Gochis, who has presented seminars, guest lectured, and served on graduate exams in the HAS department, completed his Ph.D. in hydrology under the supervision of recently retired W.J. Jim Shuttleworth, in 2002.

Congratulations, David!

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Terrie Thompson, Belled for Being Kind

June 12, 2018

Each week a person who makes Tucson better is “belled.”  On June 12th our very own Terrie Thompson received a Ben's Bell award for her generosity and kindness helping hungry students at the University of Arizona by bringing a variety of healthy snacks, treats, tea (and foam cups, sugar, creamer, stirrers, napkins), and even Costco-sized boxes of single-serving macaroni and cheese. She leaves them anonymously in the student conference room, with friendly notes that read: “Help yourself to a snack,” Whitaker wrote in her nomination letter. Thompson said she was leaving the food because,“It hardly costs anything to me, but for stressed-out, hungry students, it can make a world of difference.”

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Alumnus Daniel B. Stephens Awarded Groundwater Resources Association of California Lifetime Achievement Award

November 20, 2017

Photo: Presentation of the 2017 Groundwater Resources Association of California's Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Daniel B. Stephens. (Left to right)  HAS department alumnus* Dr. Graham Fogg (Professor, University of California at Davis), HAS department alumnus* Dr. Daniel B. Stephens (Founder and Principal Hydrologist, Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.), Dr. Stephen Cullen (Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.), and Mr. Jeff Gilman (San Francisco Public Utilities Commission).

We extend our warmest congratulations to Dan Stephens, HAS alumnus, who recently received the 2017 Groundwater Resources Association of California's Lifetime Achievement award!  The award was recently bestowed in a ceremony held at the GRAC Annual Meeting in Sacramento, California:

Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.'s (DBS&A) Founder and Principal Hydrologist, Daniel B. Stephens, Ph.D., P.Hg, P.G., has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Groundwater Resources Association (GRA) of California's Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is presented to individuals for their exemplary contributions to the groundwater industry, contributions that have been in the spirit of GRA's mission and organization objectives. Like past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Stephens has dedicated his career to the groundwater industry and has been a pioneer in his field of expertise; specifically, applied analyses of vadose (unsaturated) zone processes that play a vital role in quantifying groundwater recharge rates and understanding infiltration processes and contaminant transport. Dr. Stephens was recognized at GRA's Annual Conference in Sacramento, California, on October 3-4, 2017.

Fellow alumna (Ph.D., Hydrology, 1999 and M.S., Hydrology, 1996), Dr. Nicole Sweetland, Principal Hydrogeologist of DBS&A and President of DBS&A's parent company, Geo-Logic Associates (GLA), congratulated Dan on this recognition of his significant and enduring impact on the scientific community. "Dan has been a tremendous mentor to me in my career and I could not be more proud."

Dr. Stephens began private consulting in 1976 and founded Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc. (DBS&A) in 1984. With a modest start in Socorro, New Mexico, DBS&A grew to a $17-million corporation with seven offices in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. In 2015, DBS&A joined forces with Geo-Logic Associates (GLA) and now has 27 offices and more than 250 employees.

As an alumnus of UA (Ph.D., Hydrology, 1979), the founder of DBS&A, and a GRA member for 15 years, Dr. Stephens has aligned himself with the mission and objectives of the GRA, promoting his colleagues' professional development, and achieving technical excellence over his lifetime through research, innovation, and education. Learn more about Dr. Stephens at the company website.

*Both Graham Fogg and Dan Stephens were students of Professor Emeritus Shlomo Neuman, who also received the Groundwater Resources Association of California's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

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HAS Regents Professor Vic Baker Featured on NOVA 'Killer Floods' Program

November 7, 2017

Vic Baker, HAS Regents Professor and megaflood expert, will be featured on the upcoming NOVA program, "Killer Floods."  See a short trailer here. Baker's research focus areas include paleohydrology and related aspects of geomorphology (particularly flood processes), planetary geomorphology, Mars hydrology, Earth science in relation to public policy, the environment, and philosophy of science.

Discover how colossal floods transformed the ancient landscape of our planet in this exciting new program to be shown on several upcoming dates:

• Wed, Nov 8 at 9 pm on PBS 6
• Thu, Nov 9 at 3 am on PBS 6
• Fri, Nov 10 at 2 pm on PBS 6
• Sun, Nov 12 at 8 am on PBS 6
• Sun, Nov 12 at 8 pm on PBS 6 Plus
• Mon, Nov 13 at 1 am on PBS 6 Plus

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Chris Castro Features in Upcoming DoD Webinar on Resource Conservation and Resiliency in Desert Environments

August 2017

Christopher Castro, Associate Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, will feature in an upcoming DoD Webinar on October 5 at 9 am (PT), 12 pm (ET).  The title of Castro's talk is "More Extreme Monsoon Precipitation in the Southwestern United States and the Potential Implications for DoD Facilities."

SERDP & ESTCP have launched this webinar series to promote the transfer of solutions developed through projects funded by their environmental program areas. The DoD's Resource and Conservation Resiliency Program is also concerned about U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) lands in desert environments.

This #resourceconservation webinar on October 5th will discuss management needs in the Southwestern United States.  Register for the #SEWebinar today!  

Abstract and full details available at the webinar website: https://www.serdp-estcp.org/Tools-and-Training/Webinar-Series/10-05-2017

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Francina Dominguez Wins 2018 AMS  Houghton Award for Pioneering Contributions to Hydrometeorology

August 2017

A round of applause, please, for HAS colleague and former faculty member, Francina Dominguez, on being selected for the 2018 AMS Henry G. Houghton Award in recognition of her pioneering contributions to terrestrial meteorology and improving our understanding of land-atmosphere interactions. Dominguez was among the founding faculty members of our department's Hydrometeorology program and served as its co-director. In 2015, she returned to her alma mater, the University of Illinois, where she has initiated a similar research group focused on hydrometeorology and land-atmosphere interactions. Dominguez will receive her award in a formal ceremony at the AMS annual meeting in Austin, Texas, in January 2018. Congratulations, Francina! 

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Dongxiao Zhang Elected to the US National Academy of Engineering

February 2017

Dongxiao Zhang, former doctoral student of Regents Professor Shlomo Newman, current member of the HAS Advisory Board, and Founding Professor and Dean of Engineering at Peking Universty, has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE).  Zhang is one of 84 members recently elected to this prestigious appointment.  

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.  Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 8, 2017.  A list of the newly elected members and foreign members with their primary affiliations at the time of election and a brief statement of their principal engineering accomplishments can be found on the NAE website.

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Amber Sullins' Climate Change New Year Resolution

January 2017

Yale Climate Connections recently asked Amber Sullins, HAS Advisory Board Member and Chief Meteorologist for KNXV-TV ABC in Phoenix, to answer a very important question:

What's your New Year's Resolution as it relates to your work or interest in climate change?

Read Amber's response, and those of 12 other influential and nationally respected individuals, at the Yale Climate Change Connections link.

Happy New Year 2017!

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Jeff Kargel to Serve on Two New NASA Committees

May 2016

Jeffrey Kargel, HAS Senior Associate Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor, was recently selected to serve on two committees for the NASA Advisory Panel, "Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds" (ROW), which is charged with developing mission concepts and exploration goals for the ice-covered ocean worlds of the outer Solar System, of which we know there are several and suspect many more.  The specific committees include one for Enceladus (Saturn's Arizona-sized moon that is actively shooting geysers sourced in an ocean) and one for Kuiper Belt Objects including Pluto.

Kargel noted that, "NASA has recently embarked on development of a massive outer planets exploration goal comparable to that which served Mars exploration for the past 18 years. There will be many, many missions, and this advisory activity is designed to help identify the goals, target objects, and missions...and a far otherwordly extension of hydrology."

Congratulations and good luck, Jeff!