News Article

iUTAH partners with the Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium

iUTAH was pleased to partner with Salt Lake County for their 8th annual Watershed Symposium held from November 19-21 in West Valley City. More than 450 attendees heard from water quality experts, policy makers, environmental advocates, industry representatives, and researchers over three days of presentations, panel discussions, and field trips. Now in its third year, this collaboration provides an important opportunity for critical discussions about Utah’s water future., iUTAH was highly involved with events spanning the GAMUT from an informative booth and well-received keynote address to well-attended panel discussions and breakout sessions. All this was capped off by an iUTAH-led field trip on the final day of the symposium.

Michelle Baker, iUTAH Project Director, gave a keynote address on science for sustainable water systems in Utah. Following her presentation, iUTAH hosted a panel discussion featuring researchers from several of our RFAs, including Zach Aanderud (BYU), Jeff Horsburgh (USU), and Doug Jackson-Smith (USU). iUTAH was also involved in multiple symposium sessions, including an exciting panel on water issues from a city planning perspective that featured iUTAH participants from RFA3 Sarah Hinners, Phillip Stoker, Martin Buchert and Erfan Goharian. The final event for the Watershed Symposium was an iUTAH field trip to the Red Butte Creek Watershed led by iUtah participant and Distinguished Professor Jim Ehleringer, with the help of Alison Chan, Dave Eiriksson, Steven Hall, and Christine Pomeroy.

A Successful All Hands Meeting

Following the Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium, iUTAH held its Fall All Hands meeting on Friday November 21st in West Valley City’s Utah Cultural Celebration Center. Project Director Michelle Baker welcomed over 70 iUTAH participants to the meeting. During the opening session, iUTAH participants provided updates on education outreach and diversity, data collection plans, and research highlights. A highlight for everybody was RFA3‘s introduction of the re-envisioned iBUGI (biogeochemistry of urban green infrastructure) and iVL (innovative Visualization Lab) facilities.

Following these important updates, attendees were invited to participate in a number of breakout sessions that provided a welcoming and productive forum for the sharing and further development of ideas and initiatives.

Lunch was a working affair: John Lin from the University of Utah provided those in attendance with an overview of our current understanding of the exchange of greenhouse gases and pollutants between land and atmosphere, using atmospheric modeling of the Salt Lake City rail system as a case study. Even though the meeting officially adjourned after this fascinating presentation, many participants lingered to network and further discuss their research well into the afternoon, making this another successful All Hands Meeting for iUTAH.

We would like to again thank everyone who attended or participated in both the Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium and the All Hands Meeting!