H₂OSU is available at http://water.oregonstate.edu/newsletter/.
March 2006

Recent News

OSU’s Campana Appointed to Klamath River Committee - Dr. Michael E. Campana, incoming director of the IWW and Professor of Geosciences, has been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Committee on Further Studies on Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River. The NAS-NRC “Klamath 2” committee will build upon the work of the first Klamath River committee, which issued its report in 2004. Its specific charges will be to: review the Bureau of Reclamation’s effort to reconstruct the “natural” (pre-development) flows of the Klamath River; review a study of habitat needs for coho salmon and other anadromous fishes; review and evaluate the implications of those studies vis-à-vis threatened and endangered species; and identify additional data and information gaps. Read more...

Audiences for “Running Dry” Overflow - The IWW co-sponsored screenings of the water resources documentary, "Running Dry", in four Oregon cities this past week. Showings in Hermiston, Pendleton, Salem and Corvallis were all well attended with audiences made up of state politicians, staff of the Oregon Water Resources Department, interested citizens, and OSU faculty and students. Director and Producer Jim Thebaut attended all showings, and was joined in a question and answer dialogue by OSU Geoscience Professor Aaron Wolf, one of the scientists interviewed in the film, and OSU Forest Engineering Professor Jeff McDonnell. The Umatilla County Critical Groundwater Task Force co-sponsored the showings in Hermiston and Pendleton as part of their outreach program. The documentary is the centerpiece of a public information campaign inspired by former U.S. Senator Paul Simon’s book Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It. FMI: http://www.chroniclesgroup.org/ . See also a 2/18/06 article in the East Oregonian.

IWW researcher participates in the "International Symposium on Negotiations, Dialogue, and Perceptions in Transboundary Water Management" - Todd Jarvis, Senior Researcher for the IWW, spoke about his research on "Groundwater Domains in the Commons" at the early February symposium held in Tokyo, Japan. The Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters and the University of Tokyo organized the symposium that focused on negotiations between countries with shared water resources. The symposium featured speakers from Japan, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and the United States.

Participants in the Hydro-Hegemony forum at the International Symposium on Negotiations, Dialogue, and Perceptions in Transboundary Water Management. From left to right, Shahriar Wahid, Joshua Newton, Takahiro Endo, Todd Jarvis, Kyoko Matsumoto, Dr. Mikiyasu Nakayama, graduate student guest, Mikiko Sugiura, Hiromi Yamaguchi, Naho Mirumachi, Mark Zeitoun, Shuntaro Yamamoto, and Alistair Rieu-Clarke.

Upcoming Events

Monday, March 13, 9:00 AM - Patterns, behavior, and epistemology for fish communities in an eastern Oregon stream network (Stream Team Monday Morning Meeting) Speaker: Seth White, OSU Fisheries and Wildlife. 10 Nash Hall. FMI: Court Smith, smithc@onid.orst.edu.

Wednesday, April 12, 8:00 AM- 5:00 PM. Stewardship and Restoration of Coastal Rivers. The conference will focus on emerging policy issues, current understanding of coastal rivers as ecological systems, and scientific challenges for the next decade. Presented by The Coastal Rivers Research Consortium. Students: $35 Professionals: $70. Held at Seattle Museum on History & Industry. FMI: http://fish.washington.edu/crrc.

Get Involved

Become a Volunteer for Willamette Riverkeepers - The City of Corvallis is a sponsor for a water quality monitoring training that will be provided by Willamette Riverkeeper on Saturday, March 18 from 10-2pm at the Walnut Community Room at Fire Station #5 (4950 NW Fair Oaks Drive). Training will cover an overview of the Willamette River and Willamette Riverkeeper, an introduction to the River Guardian program, volunteer options and data collection methods. Materials and lunch will be provided. Registration is required, contact Monica, Water Quality Coordinator/ NWSA AmeriCorps member, at monica@willamette-riverkeeper.org or call 503-223-6418.

New Environmental Engineering Course on 'Upscaling in multiscale systems' - The course will be offered Spring 2006 and will be directed toward applications in porous media (which includes both subsurface materials and packed bed reactors). The class will not be a rigorous mathematical course, but more oriented to a discussion of the physics and analysis (from the perspective of an engineer/physicist) of multiscale systems. FMI: Brian Wood, 737-9249, brian.wood@oregonstate.edu.

Funding Opportunities

Sigma Xi Student Research Grants - March 15 is the deadline for Sigma Xi grants of up to $1,000 to support undergraduate and graduate student research in any field of science and engineering including social sciences. There are no citizenship restrictions for these grants. International students and non-U.S. citizens are encouraged to apply. Undergraduate or graduate students in a degree program are eligible. FMI: http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/giar

PNW American Water Works Scholarships - $1000 to $7000 awarded, for those interested in water/wastewater technology, as well as the public water supply field. Undergraduates and MS students eligible. Deadline to apply is March 31, 2006. FMI: doug.wise@eweb.eugene.or.us or 541-434-5781, http://www.pnws-awwa.org/committee_current.cfm?CommSection=2&CommID=33.

National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation Research Grants - Proposals on the following topics are being invited by the Board of NGWREF: sustainability of ground water resources, ground water rights, drinking water infrastructure alternatives, water testing technology applicable at individual household levels, relationships between ground water industry-related regulations and public benefits. Total dollars to be awarded: $20,000. NGWREF particularly encourages and values those proposals that bridge the gap between research and practical applications of the research findings. Deadline: April 15, 2006. FMI: http://www.ngwa.org/ngwef/ngwef.cfm#proposals

List of water-related external funding opportunities available on the IWW website...opportunities are arranged by deadline and include short program descriptions and links to RFPs. see: http://water.oregonstate.edu/funding/externalfunding.htm