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<br />Bill Arnold (WRS graduate faculty, CE)
<br />spent three weeks in August as a visitor
<br />at Shanghai Jiaotong University, where he
<br />learned about ongoing water quality re-
<br />search in Shanghai and exploring collabora-
<br />tive opportunities.
<br />Jim Cotner (WRS graduate faculty, EEB),
<br />Mark Edlund (WRS graduate faculty,
<br />St. Croix Watershed Research Station), Joy
<br />Ramstack (St. Croix Watershed Research
<br />Station), Kyle Zimmer, and Kevin Theis-
<br />sen of the University of St. Thomas have
<br />received a collaborative research grant from
<br />NSF to study organic carbon burial in shal-
<br />low lakes.
<br />Karlyn Eckman (WRC) presented a
<br />paper July 8, 2009, "Understanding Target
<br />Audiences in Water Resources Projects"
<br />at the Universities Consortium on Water
<br />Resources (UCOWR) in Chicago, IL. Eck-
<br />man also organized a training ~+~orkshop for
<br />survey enumerators held in Grand Rapids,
<br />MI, June 16-18, 2009.
<br />Mark Edlund was aboard the research
<br />vessel Laurentian in May 2009 collecting
<br />sediment cores from stations throughout
<br />the southern basin of Lake Michigan as part
<br />of his project, "Habitat or Food % Demise of
<br />the Benthic Food Web."
<br />The National Science Foundation awarded a
<br />Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant
<br />to Jacques Finlay (WRS graduate faculty,
<br />EEB) and Martin Tsui (WRS). The title
<br />of the grant is "Mercury Bioavailability
<br />and its Environmental Controls in a River
<br />Network." The study examines if and how
<br />mercury is methylated by natural stream
<br />ecosystems in the forested watershed at
<br />summer baseflows in the Angelo Coast
<br />Range Reserve in northern California in
<br />summer 2009.
<br />As part of a new course, Design for Sus-
<br />tainable Development, taught by John
<br />Gulliver (WRS graduate faculty, CE),
<br />three student teams entered the Acara
<br />Challenge to develop a venture capital
<br />pitch to solve a water problem in a large
<br />slum of Mumbai, India. Each team had
<br />four University of Minnesota students and
<br />three students from the Indian Institute of
<br />Technology-Bombay. Team ReachOut Wa-
<br />ter Solutions from the University of Minne-
<br />sota won the competition and was awarded
<br />S25,000 to go to Mumbai and implement
<br />their solution, creating a sustainable busi-
<br />ness venture.
<br />Robert Hecky (WRS graduate faculty,
<br />LLO} attended the centennial celebration
<br />of the International Joint Commission (IJC)
<br />under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909
<br />between the United States and Canada.
<br />Hecky also attended a workshop June
<br />14-15 that brought together the two North
<br />American Commissions with three African
<br />Great Lakes Commissions to discuss issues
<br />of common interest and the possibility of
<br />future collaboration.
<br />Lucinda Johnson (WRS graduate
<br />faculty, NRRI) was elected president of
<br />the North American Benthological Society
<br />(NABS) for 2010. NABS is an international
<br />professional society representing stream
<br />and aquatic ecologists.
<br />Cheryel Konate began work as the
<br />office administrator for the WRC on July
<br />29, 2009. She fills the vacancy left by the
<br />retirement of Maria Juergens in May 2009.
<br />Konate previously worked at the University
<br />as an administrator in the Department of
<br />Medicine, Division of Renal Diseases.
<br />Mike Sadowsky (WRS graduate faculty,
<br />SWC) has been named director of the Uni-
<br />versity's BioTechnology Institute.
<br />Shawn Schottler and Jim Almendinger
<br />(St. Croix Watershed Research Station)
<br />vt~ere recently awarded a X300,000 grant
<br />from the Legislative-Citizen Commission
<br />on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) to
<br />evaluate the long-term effects of intensified
<br />the drainage on river flows in Minnesota.
<br />The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is
<br />providing an additional X300,000 in match-
<br />ing funds.
<br />Brandy Toner (WRS graduate faculty,
<br />SWC) received funding from the Center of
<br />Urban and Regional Affairs to study arsenic
<br />in Minnesota ground water. Her proposal
<br />vt~as titled "Arsenic Vulnerability Maps for
<br />New Domestic Wells in West-Central Min-
<br />nesota." Melinda Erickson (WRS gradu-
<br />ate faculty, USGS) is a collaborator.
<br />2010 Research Grant Competition
<br />The Water Resources Center (WRC) holds
<br />an annual competition for research funds
<br />provided by Congressional appropriation
<br />to the Water Resources Research Institutes
<br />through the US Geological Survey. We are
<br />pleased to announce the WRC research
<br />grant competition for 2010. Proposals
<br />should emphasize innovative approaches to
<br />advancing the scientific understanding or
<br />imaginative strategies for soh~ing important
<br />water resource problems. Proposals are
<br />invited from researchers from any college
<br />or university in Minnesota, and are sought
<br />on a wide range of subjects related to water
<br />resources science and engineering.
<br />Proposals will be evaluated on scientific
<br />merit and relevance to state and national
<br />needs, on potential to attract extramural
<br />funding, and on clearly articulated and rel-
<br />evant impact of the research. All proposals
<br />will be reviewed by both in-state and out-
<br />of-state reviewers, and an advisory panel
<br />will select the proposals for funding. We
<br />especially encourage proposals from junior
<br />faculty. The submission deadline is noon,
<br />Monday, November 9, 2009. Decisions
<br />will be made by early January 2010. Fund-
<br />ing is contingent on the appropriation of
<br />funds by Congress.
<br />For more information, visit wrc.umn.edu
<br />NIWR names Deborah
<br />Swackhamer president-elect
<br />Deborah L. Swackhamer, co-director of the
<br />Water Resources Center, has been named
<br />president-elect of the National Institutes of
<br />Water Resources (NIWR) based in Wash-
<br />ington D.C. Swackhamer will begin the
<br />one-year term as president-elect October
<br />1, 2009, in addition to her regular Univer-
<br />sity duties, and will become president on
<br />October 1, 2010.
<br />As president of NIWR, Swackhamer ~a=ill
<br />oversee the network of 54 water resources
<br />centers located in land grant institutions
<br />across the country, and will lead the
<br />agency's efforts to coordinate and promote
<br />the training and research activities of water
<br />quality professionals and researchers in the
<br />United States and around the world.
<br />Y'~ Il2 _ _-------
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