News Article
February 15, 2017
Sarah Null Receives Prestigious NSF CAREER Grant
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named Utah State University junior faculty member Sarah Null winner of an Early CAREER award. Sarah is one of four faculty members at USU to be chosen to receive the prestigious CAREER Award this year. Null’s award provides a five-year grant of $510,000.
An excerpt from a USU press release said “ ‘Most water resources models consider flow volume and timing, but I want to look further,’ says Null, who serves with the statewide iUTAH water project and USU’s newly formed Climate Adaptation Science graduate program. ‘My research aim is to explore water management effects on ecosystems and ways to improve aquatic ecosystem representation in water resources models.’
Using water resources systems analysis and physical geography, Null is developing mathematical models to explore processes and interactions of both built and natural water systems. Her research also includes field studies.
‘With undergraduates and graduate students, our team will collect data on multiple aquatic habitat parameters, including temperature, dissolved oxygen, gradients and stream flow on the Intermountain West’s Weber and Bear Rivers,’ she says. ‘We’ll develop mathematical models to estimate processes and interactions of human and environmental water resources objectives and test them with field data.’
Such analysis, she says, will enable her team to quantify water supply, hydropower and aquatic habitat trade-offs to support water resource decision-making. ‘Further, we can use models to predict climate change effects on hydrology, water quality and aquatic habitat,’ Null says. ‘Such information helps us identify promising adaptation and management strategies that are robust to change.’ “
Press: EurekAlert! | Utah State Today
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