Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006FL144B

Cooperative Graduate Research Assistantships Between the Florida Water Resources Research Center-South Florida Water Management District UF/ABE in Critical Water Resources Areas for South Florida

Institute: Florida
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $50,000

Principal Investigators: Wendy Graham

Abstract: The goal of this project is to train a diverse group of four (4) Ph.D. scientists and engineers working in critical areas of water resources which are targeted to meet South Floridas short- and long-term needs. The project will be led by faculty from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (UF/ABE) who are represented in the Hydrologic Sciences Academic Cluster (HSAC) at the University of Florida (UF). This faculty has already established strong research and teaching collaborations, and their collective expertise will provide the underpinning of the proposed program. Research to be pursued by the selected Ph.D. students will focus on hydrologic and ecological modeling issues in the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) according to the existing cooperative Agreement between the SFWMD and FL-WRC. Additional synergistic activities proposed between the three project partners (including summer stays at SFWMD, participation of qualified SFWMD personnel on graduate committees, joint presentation of results at state, national and international meetings, co-authorship in peer-reviewed publications, etc.) will provide a unique opportunity for collaboration. An effective multi-disciplinary graduate student training environment will be forged by 1) establishing a close cooperation between the SFWMD and UF/ABE; 2) requiring students to satisfy the requirements of the interdisciplinary HSAC in addition to their discipline department requirements; 2) focusing SFWMD staff, faculty and graduate student energy and intellect on common multi-disciplinary research problems; 3) requiring students to be co-advised by faculty from two different discipline departments; and 4) if appropriate allowing each student the opportunity to participate in an extended off-campus internship with the SFWMD to enhance his/her graduate training. The best indicators of our ability to attract outstanding students is our past history of excellent student recruitment and the success of our graduates. Ph. D. graduates have competed successfully for research, teaching, and extension positions with universities, government, and private industry. Other indicators of program quality are faculty and doctoral student productivity in publications, awards and recognitions, and grant funding. Several faculty have national and international reputations in Hydrologic Sciences as indicated by our representation on NRC and NSF advisory boards, and cooperation on international projects. The ABE department averages $3 - 4 million annually in grant funding as well as receiving excellent state and federal CSREES support.