Theme: “Collaborations Connecting Climate Change Science, Education, and Policy,”
Meeting Overview
Nearly 200 researchers and educators from New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho gathered for the 3rd Annual EPSCoR Western Consortium Tri-State Meeting at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort Hotel and Spa, Santa Ana, NM on April 6-8, 2011. The theme of this year's meeting, “Collaborations Connecting Climate Change Science, Education, and Policy,” highlighted the connections that have been developing across institutions and disciplines throughout the consortium.Researchers shared the outcomes of their work, discussed implications and possible synergies between their efforts, and clarified questions that will guide their work into the future.
The three-day meeting featured 15 concurrent sessions including Climate Drivers and Landscape Response, Catchment Science, Climate Change Education, and Economics of Water and Land Use. Two workshops for graduate students and faculty were also offered: Introduction to Climate Modeling and Hydrologic Information Systems.
This year, 46 students participated in the Student Poster Competition, with 16 of those students from New Mexico. The winners were announced Friday, April 8th - each winner received a $300 cash prize. The six winners are:
- Jiří Kadlec (Idaho), Design of a web map application for accessing free hydrologic data;
- Carol Moore (Idaho), Using 3D Visualizations for Outreach;
- Peng Jiang (Nevada), The impact of changes in temporal distribution of precipitation;
- Lauren Sherson (New Mexico), Use of continuous real-time water quality sensors to examine whole stream metabolism;
- Kerry Riley (Idaho), A 10,000-year record of fire activity and fire-related sedimentation in the Middle Fork Salmon River; and
- Ian Leslie (Idaho), Characterizing soil pipe networks on forested hillslopes using electric resistivity tomography.
Please see below for some great feedback on the collaboration and networking that made this event so successful. You may also take a look at our Spring 2011 issue of our Newsletter for other articles about the 3rd Annual Tri-State meeting.
Meeting outcomes:
- Identification of “next steps” in research, CI, education, and diversity efforts across the Western Consortium
- Formation of partnerships to develop joint research, education, and policy efforts across the Western Consortium
Meeting materials:
Q: What did you find most useful about the meeting?
"Collaborations among the three states was exciting to see. The momentum of three years of meetings and participation throughout the year was evident. I had many people come up to me and tell me what a great meeting it was. One faculty researcher told me it was excellent to have these collaborations because now when he attends other events they all have a great connection."
"Collaborations. Being part of a group that is doing work that matters was a "good feeling" boost. Lots of good new references, ideas, things to follow up on (like Carole's water cycle video). I thought the emphasis on diversity was nicely tuned...I thought Bill's remarks in the morning about what being a scientist were wonderful and I will be sharing them with our community. "A scientist is inquisitive, likes the work, pushes boundaries, and works in an interdisciplinary team". Think globally, act scientifically, connect locally to adapt and mitigate."
"The opportunity to collaborate personally with other tri-state and intra-state project members. It was especially helpful to compare our advances and the technologies we've used."
"Opportunities to talk with colleagues and collaborators. Opportunity to learn about the research of faculty and students within the Tri-State."
"Discussion on CI collaboration. It was very useful to see what others have done, in which we can improve our effort, and contribute to their work as well."
"The spirit of collaboration and cohesiveness between the participants."
