Water Resources Workshop

NSF Convergence Accelerator Workshop

Water sits at the nexus of every human activity. Agriculture, power generation, transportation, public health, and industrial processes depend on consistent availability and quality of water resources. When these conditions are not met, significant disease, famine, and conflict can ensue.

But water resources are complicated, and water quantity and quality are not consistently distributed around the planet, causing water inequities. As the climate continues to change, these disparities are likely to be amplified.

If we are going to improve resilience to climate change, we need to improve water resource access, management, and equity. Because water needs are ubiquitous and pervasive, there are no one-size-fits-all answers. We need a whole-of-society approach to addressing water resilience, and we don't really know what that is yet.

We need a whole-of-society approach to addressing water resilience, and we don't really know what that is yet.

We convened a three-day Convergence Accelerator Workshop to bring sharper focus to existing research gaps in water resources.

This virtual workshop brought together experts from academia, industry, government, society, and numerous other stakeholder communities to identify critical research gaps that may have been missed by previous narrowly focused efforts and will highlight high priority areas to be addressed in a future Convergence Accelerator call.

There was particular focus on connections between the research community and extensive efforts on the operational side (such as at USDA and others) for maximum societal impact. In doing so, we galvanized the research community and built a network of partnerships between a wide variety of stakeholders, especially beyond academia.

One of the main purposes of the workshop is to identify strategies and effectiveness of different approaches to climate resilience and water resources that will have societal impact in the next few years.

Registration and Program Information

The workshop involved a Microlab (2 hours) on October 13 (1-3 pm ET), followed by 3-4 hour virtual sessions on October 17 (1-5 pm ET), 19 (1-5 pm ET), and 21 (1-5 pm ET). Each session built on the prior ones, so we request that invitees attend all sessions.

Organizers

Ben Kravitz, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, IU Bloomington
Sally Letsinger, Department of Geography, IU Bloomington
Gabe Filippelli, Center for Urban Health, IUPUI
Eva Allen, Environmental Research Institute

Workshop Advisors

Larry Susskind Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
George Hornberger University Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University
Anna Gemolas Global Leader of Strategic and Internal Communications, DuPont Water Solutions

Water Resources Workshop

NSF Convergence Accelerator Workshop

Registration and Program Information

Organizers

Workshop Advisors

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences social media channels

The College of Arts & Sciences