Call for Abstracts, Registrants for 2014 USU Spring Runoff Conference

Marking its 10th anniversary, the Utah State University Water Initiative hosts the 2014 Spring Runoff Conference April 1-2 at the university’s Eccles Conference Center. Sponsors of this year’s gathering are the USU-based Utah Water Research Laboratory, USU Quinney College of Natural Resources, USU Ecology Center and iUTAH.

The 2014 conference is held in conjunction with the April 2 J. Paul Riley American Water Resources Association Utah Section Student Water Conference and Paper Competition. Students are invited to submit papers for the scholarship competition. Deadline for submissions is Monday, March 3. For information, contact David Rosenberg at 435-797-8689; david.rosenberg@usu.edu.

Abstracts are also invited for the Spring Runoff Conference’s poster and oral presentations from students, faculty and professionals involved in water-related research. Submissions can be made online and are due by Monday, March 3. Submissions from both graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged.

“We’d like to have involvement from every college at USU,” says David Tarboton, professor in USU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and conference organizer. “The purpose of the conference is to share diverse water research across disciplinary boundaries.”

Student participation in the two-day gathering is free but all participants must register. Cost to professionals is $50 for both days or $25 for one day. Online registration is available at the conference website.

Featured conference topics include hydrology, water resources, water policy and management, water and society, water quality, water use and conservation, economics, climate change, soils, groundwater, snow hydrology, ecosystems, limnology and water computation and information systems.

Special to this year’s gathering is a screening of the 2011 documentary Last Call at the Oasis, at 7 p.m. on April 1 in the ECC auditorium. Produced and directed by Jessica Yu, the award-winning film features well-known activist Erin Brockovich-Ellis.

The USU Water Initiative is an interdisciplinary collaboration of UWRL, the USU Ecology Center, the colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and the Quinney College of Natural Resources and the Huntsman School of Business. Established in 2003, the initiative fosters collegial sharing of water-related research and ideas throughout the campus and community.

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Contact: David Tarboton, 435-797-3172, dtarb@usu.edu

Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu