We are pleased to announce the student Poster and Oral Presentation Awards from the 2022 UCOWR/NIWR Annual Water Resources Conference in Greenville, SC. All recipients received a monetary award. Congratulations!
Student Poster Presentation Award Recipients
1st place: Holly Wren, University of Arkansas
Holly graduated with her bachelor’s degree in environmental, soil and water sciences, and then began her career as a Stormwater and Floodplain Program Coordinator, completed a graduate certification in geospatial technologies, and became a certified floodplain manager. Holly recently earned her Master’s degree in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences from the University of Arkansas, where her research focused on the ability of cereal straws to inhibit harmful algal species. With her ongoing commitment to water resources and environmental stewardship, Holly has plans to continue her work in watersheds across Northwest Arkansas.
2nd place: Emily Jordan, Clemson University
Emily is a Graduate Research Assistant at Clemson University, starting her second year of graduate school. Emily’s mentor is Dr. Debabrata Sahoo who has taught her how to perform nutrient injections in low-order streams in urban and agricultural areas in Greenville and Pendleton, SC. Their research goal is to determine if restoration projects improve water quality by measuring nutrient uptake lengths, with the hope that these results will help in stream monitoring actions and develop nutrient criteria for streams in SC.
3rd place: Lacy Barnette, University of South Carolina
Lacy is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of South Carolina’s Soil Health Lab. As part of the Arnold School of Public Health, she is passionate about combining her knowledge of environmental science and background in education for accurate and effective science communication. She is committed to applying scientific research beyond the laboratory. Her research interests include, science communication, applied agriculture research, water quality, and sustainable athletic fields.
Student Oral Presentation Award Recipients
1st place: Michael Ramos, Texas A&M University Kingsville
Michael Ramos is a recent graduate of the chemical engineering program at Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK). He has most recently worked as a part of the CREST-SWU research program at TAMUK, conducting research on the groundwater availability model of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer in South Texas. His other research work includes generating soil moisture maps on behalf of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s RE2AD program at TAMUK, implementing and monitoring oyster reef restoration at Goose Island State Park in Rockport, Texas with Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, and comparing Peng-Robinson and Soave-Redlich-Kwong equations of state for submission to TAMUK’s undergraduate research journal.
2nd place: Gillian Palino, University of Tennessee – Knoxville
Gillian Palino is a third-year civil and environmental engineering PhD graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville under the guidance of Dr. Jon Hathaway. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida in Environmental Engineering with a minor in Soil and Water Science. Her thesis project focuses on the application of regenerative stormwater conveyances as a method of improving hydrologic performance and water quality of urban stormwater. Her research interests include GIS and modeling techniques to better understand surface water hydrology.
3rd place: Rishav Karanjit, Clemson University
Rishav, originally from Nepal, is a master’s student studying computer science at Clemson University. His interest lies in the integration of software engineering and machine learning. He works on machine learning algorithms development for flood applications. Currently, he is working on an NSF-funded project focusing on South Carolina flooding issues. He enjoys traveling, cooking, and listening to music.
