Inspiring interdisciplinary water research across disciplines, the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute has awarded a combined total of $75,000 to five research teams as a result of its fall term seed grants competition.
The chosen teams will tackle a range of topics that are key to the evolving discourse around water issues,” says Roy Brouwer, executive director of the institute. “They are good examples of seed grant partnerships — linking both Waterloo researchers across faculties, as well as building relationships with national and international research institutions and governmental organizations.
2016/17 grant recipients for Fall 2016 include:
-
$20,000:
What
do
current
water
quality
monitoring
programs
really
tell
us,
and
how
can
we
improve
them?
Assessing
water
quality
monitoring
programs
with
the
aim
of
improving
Ontario’s
provincial
Water
Quality
Monitoring
Network
- Philippe Van Cappellen (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
-
Nandita
Basu,
(Earth
and
Environmental
Sciences/Civil
and
Environmental Engineering), Madeline Rosamond (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Kim van Meter (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Sherry Schiff (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Simon Courtenay (Environment, Resources and Sustainability), Georgina Kaltenecker and Mohamed Mohamed (Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change), and Christopher Wellen (University of Windsor)
-
$19,640:
Governance,
institutions
and
water
metabolism:
Developing
an
operational
framework
for
the
Caribbean
- Simron Singh (Environment, Enterprise and Development)
- Prateep Nayak (Environment, Enterprise and Development), Derek Armitage (Environment, Resources and Sustainability), Brent Doberstein (Geography and Environmental Management), and Alain-Désiré Nimubona (Economics)
-
$11,746:
Interdisciplinary
assessment
of
whether
intervention
is
warranted
in
the
management
of
aquatic
invasive
species,
- Rebecca Rooney (Biology)
- Brendon Larson (Environment, Resources and Sustainability), Sarah Wolfe (Environment, Resources and Sustainability), and Kurt Kowalski (U.S. Geological Survey)
-
$11,200:
Linking
stream
network
process
models
to
robust
adaptive
data
management
systems
for
the
development
of
decision
support
tools
that
model
cumulative
effects
in
watersheds
- Bruce MacVicar (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
- Don Cowan (Computer Science/Environment, Resources and Sustainability) and Stephen Murphy (Environment, Resources and Sustainability)
-
$11,300:
Nutrient
cycling
and
contaminant
transport
in
groundwater
of
Southern
Ontario
(Canada)
and
Quintana
Roo
(Mexico):
Similarities,
differences,
collaboration
and
solutions
- Chris Parsons (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
- Philippe Van Cappellen (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Nandita Basu (Earth and Environmental Sciences/Civil and Environmental Engineering), Laura Hug (Biology), and Eduardo Cejudo (Unidad de Ciencias del Agua, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán/Water Sciences Unit — CICY, Mexico)
The Water Institute Seed Grants Program awards $150,000 annually, with competitions generally held during fall and winter terms. The goal is to catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration; facilitate interaction with national and international water scholars, thought leaders and professionals to encourage new areas of research; and develop new research proposals. Project teams must be led by a Water Institute member and demonstrate an interdisciplinary approach, involving a minimum of three departments or two faculties per project team.