PROTECT Researchers Participate in First AGU Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting
The first biennial Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting was held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan from June 19th to June 24th. Organized by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in collaboration with the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc., the meeting gathered the science community to discuss the future of water research. Project 3 leader Dr. Ingrid Padilla, PROTECT postdoc researcher Dr. Nancy Cardona, and several trainees participated in the six-day meeting.
Dr. Padilla helped organize the meeting and served as the Local Representative for University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, on the Frontiers in Hydrology Program Committee. Throughout the meeting, she presented on both professional development and water research. She was a chair and co-convener on the “Let’s Get Real About Diversity and Inclusion in the Hydrologic Science Community” oral session. She also presented on the “Unwritten Rules of Academia: Student Perspectives on Hydrologic Science” keynote session. Later in the week, she chaired the “Water Issues in the Caribbean” keynote about environmental and water justice in Puerto Rico.
Dr. Cardona was the Early Career Co-Chair in Public Health of the “Contaminant Pathways in Water: Exposure and Effects on Human and Environmental Health” oral and poster session. This discussion session and poster focused on the challenges that human and environmental health share when it comes to contaminants and contaminant mixtures in water.
Dr. Cardona presenting at one of the virtual poster sessions.
Several PROTECT trainees took part in poster presentations throughout the meeting. Norma Torres presented “Hydrogeologic Controls on Groundwater Level Variability in Costal Karst Aquifers” during Tuesday’s virtual poster session. The poster showed a study that applied spatial and temporal analytics methods to precipitation and groundwater level data across the aquifer system. Postdoc Luisa Feliciano-Cruz presented “LiDAR Mapping of Underground Spring Channel Geometry to Forecast Spring Discharge” during Thursday’s poster session. The findings from the study suggest that using ground truth data and LiDAR scans can help develop rating curves for spring discharge forecasting, which is crucial to sustainably manage groundwater resources.
This meeting let researchers discuss and explore the future opportunities in water. Water research can be interdisciplinary work that is relevant to engineering, social science, and more. PROTECT’s emphasis on multidisciplinary research makes these kinds of gatherings important to spreading PROTECT’s work and learning about innovative ideas that can push the center forward.