ThinkWater Fellows Announced for 2017-18

USDA-Funded Fellowship Enables Regional/State Water Experts to Incorporate Systems Thinking in Education, Outreach, and Extension.

ThinkWater is excited to announce the selection of ten leaders in water education, outreach, and extension to be ThinkWater Fellows for 2017-18. The ThinkWater fellowship builds a cohort of scholars and professionals engaged with water-related issues and teaches them systems thinking for application to their ongoing professional work. While the first cohort of ThinkWater fellows were advanced scholars and faculty conducting water-related research, fellows from the second cohort work in positions that allow them to integrate systems thinking into program design, education, and outreach involving a broad range of audiences, such as farmers, community members, volunteers, and youth.The fellowship committee received many outstanding applications from candidates across the country doing important work in the water arena.

The following ten were ultimately selected:

Professor J. Gordon Arbuckle Jr.

(Environmental Sociologist, Iowa State University)

Jim Collins, Jr.

(North Dakota Department of Health Division of Water Quality)

Professor Helen E. Dahlke

(Project Lead, Agricultural Groundwater Recharge and Banking, University of California, Davis)

Dr. Kristin Floress

(Research Social Scientist, US Forest Service)

Deborah Suzanne Groebner

(MinnAqua, Fish & Wildlife Division, MN Department of Natural Resources)

Dr. Jo A. Latimore

(Aquatic Ecologist and Outreach Specialist, Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife)

Blake Osborn

(Regional Water Specialist, Colorado Water Institute; Colorado State University Extension)

Erika Pierson

(Program Manager, Earth Force)

Kara Salazar

(Sustainable Communities Extension Specialist, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant; Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University Extension)

Dr. Grant Weinkam

(Research Analyst, University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center)

Dr. Laura Cabrera expressed excitement at the caliber of applications this year and the diversity, professional experience, and professional reach of the 10 fellows selected. “Water is such a critical issue, so we’re delighted to have representation from critical geographic regions, individuals who work with youth, adults, volunteers, businesses and not-for-profit organizations, those involved in direct and indirect service, with a number of them having received large grants to run complex projects related to a whole range of water issues.”