Hello UCOWR — It’s been quite a year!
Covid19 has been challenging for all active professional associations, and UCOWR is no exception. As you know, the 2020 UCOWR conference has been cancelled. Planning was well underway for an excellent program in Minneapolis, but the prudent decision was to cancel it. All is not lost though, because we are exploring the option of “returning” to Minneapolis in 2022! Meanwhile, planning is proceeding for our 2021 conference in beautiful Greenville, South Carolina, though we will be prepared to switch to an online format if conditions warrant.
I would like to welcome the four new UCOWR Board of Directors members for this year, Dr. Sam Fernald, Dr. Bridget Guerrero, Dr. Ginger Paige, and Dr. Jeffrey Peterson This is a fantastic incoming group who I am sure will bring fresh new ideas and energy to the UCOWR Board. They have big shoes to fill though — they are replacing Beth Boyer (Penn State Univ.), Dan Devlin (Kansas State Univ.), Jeff Johnson (Mississippi State Univ.), and Nicole Wilkinson McIntosh (North Carolina State University), who have contributed enormously to UCOWR as Directors and in other capacities over these past few years. It has been a real pleasure to work with all of them, and I look forward to their continued involvement in UCOWR into the future! And while the Board of Directors is a great group of people, we would be lost without UCOWR’s fantastic Executive Team, led by one of my favorite People, Karl Williard!
I am honored to be able to serve as president for this coming year. As an economist and the Director of the State of Washington Water Research Center housed at Washington State University, I have tremendous appreciation for the role universities have in carrying out impactful and integrative water research for the public good, and for UCOWR’s unique and valuable role in bringing water researchers, educators, and other partners together to share in these pursuits. While the breadth of expertise and interest reflected in UCOWR membership is vast, I greatly appreciate how at home I feel in UCOWR with my own focus on watershed scale, policy-relevant, interdisciplinary water research and communication.
Last but certainly not least, I hope you are remaining healthy during this pandemic, and are finding the support from your institutions that you need to be safe and productive. If we at UCOWR can be of any help, or if you have any ideas about how UCOWR can better serve you, our member institutions, delegates, and friends, we would love to hear from you!
Very best wishes,
Jonathan Yoder
https://people.ses.wsu.edu/yoder/
