By Leslie Lee
Communications Manager, Texas Water Resources Institute

Student researchers from across campus filled Texas A&M University’s 12^th Man Hall with research posters and science-based solutions to some of the world’s most pressing water problems April 23 during Texas A&M Water Day.

The annual event is hosted by the Water Management and Hydrological Science (WMHS) Program and the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), and it includes a poster contest and a public water lecture.

Scholarships Awarded

Faculty and staff volunteers served as research poster judges and scored the students’ research posters and science communication. Out of the 43 students who presented research posters, the top three received scholarship awards.

• 1st place and a $5,000 scholarship was awarded to Chinmay Chavan, doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, for his research poster, “A Novel Flow Separator for Solar-thermal Desalination Applications.”
• 2nd place and a $3,500 scholarship was awarded to Harrison Coker, doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M, for his research poster, “Aeroponic Technology for Accelerated Weathering of Extraterrestrial Regolith to Extract Plant Essential Nutrients and Generate Arable Soils.”
• 3rd place and a $1,500 scholarship was awarded to Dallas Williams, doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, for her research poster, “Substituting Sand with Waste Material and Native Clay Soil in a Structural Soil Approach to Rain Garden Design.”

Poster Contest Brings Together Disciplines

Students from agricultural fields, sciences, engineering, and earth sciences participated in the competition and networked with faculty members.

Undergraduate and graduate students are all invited to present posters at Texas A&M Water Day, but only graduate students can receive a monetary prize, due to funding source requirements.

Poster competition students must: be a graduate student at Texas A&M University or TAMU Galveston, have at least one semester remaining in their current graduate program, and be enrolled in eligible study areas — including engineering hydrology, stochastic hydrology, coastal hydrology, water quality, watershed management, hydrogeology, and hydrologic techniques in water resources planning.

Contest-winning funds are applied directly to winners’ tuition and fees accounts.

The poster competition awards are funded by the W.G. Mills Memorial Fellowship in Hydrology, established to promote the development and conservation of water resources in Texas and develop leadership for tomorrow’s water resources managers. Since 2001, TWRI has awarded more than $552,700 in Mills scholarships to support 215 students involved in water-related studies.

Water Lecture

The poster session was followed by the lecture: “Climate Change and Food Energy Water Nexus: An Exploration in Edwards Aquifer Region, Texas” by Nobel Laureate Bruce McCarl, Ph.D., Regents Professor and University Distinguished Professor; Chengcheng Fei, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University; and “Flowing Together: Texas Water. Needs. Everyone.” by Texas A&M Outstanding Early Career Alumni Matthew Berg, Ph.D., CEO and Principal Scientist at Simfero Consultants.

For more information about Texas A&M Water Day, contact WMHS-ProgramCoordinator@tamu.edu. 

Texas A&M students are invited to present research posters, and the afternoon water lecture is open to the campus community.

 Texas A&M Water Day 2024 will bring a research poster competition and water lecture to campus on March 27. Poster displays and judging will be held at the Texas A&M University Memorial Student Center in the 12th Man Hall, 9 a.m. to noon, and the following Water Lecture and power award ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. in Rudder Tower, room 501.  

Showcasing water-related research from engineering, agriculture and Earth sciences fields, Texas A&M Water Day gives students invaluable networking and research communication experience.

Registration is required for students submitting research posters as well as lecture attendees, and it is available at gradconnect.tamu.edu/register/waterday2024. The deadline for registration and poster abstract submission is March 18 at 11:59 p.m. 

Both undergraduate and graduate students can present posters at the event, but only graduate students are eligible for the poster competition and monetary prize, due to funding source requirements. 

To be eligible for the poster competition, students must: 

• Be a graduate student at Texas A&M University or Texas A&M - Galveston 
• Have at least one semester remaining in their current graduate program 
• Be enrolled in eligible study areas, including engineering hydrology, stochastic hydrology, coastal hydrology, water quality, watershed management, hydrogeology, hydrologic techniques in water resources planning, climatology, and public policy 

Texas A&M Water Day is hosted by the Texas A&M Water Management and Hydrological Science Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Texas Water Resources Institute, which is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M.

The poster competition awards are funded by the W.G. Mills Memorial Fellowship in Hydrology, established to promote the development and conservation of water resources in Texas and develop leadership for tomorrow’s water resources managers. 

For more information, contact WMHS-ProgramCoordinator@tamu.edu.