Education and Outreach News

Taya grew up in Indiana and received her Bachelor’s degree, from the University of Southern Indiana in International Studies, and Spanish. While pursuing a dual-Master’s degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from American University and the U.N. University of Peace,Taya became interested and involved in water issues at the global level. This experience drew Taya to the Sociology program at Utah State University and specifically the iUtah project. 

She is pursuing her PhD in sociology under the guidance of Dr. Courtney Flint. Currently, Taya is excited to explore more about water governance in the U.S. and human dimensions of water in Utah. This includes looking at people’s perceptions of their vulnerabilities related to water resources as well as discovering how Utahans value water. Taya is currently using results from the iUTAH household water survey to discover respondent characteristics that can be used as indicators for specific water questions. This will help guide her next project that looks to pursue better ways to incorporate all of Utah’s voices related to water. Beyond research, Taya is enjoying getting to know this part of the Western U.S. 

The SciTech Now series being broadcast on UEN-TV, captures the latest breakthroughs in science, technology and innovation. This Monday, January 26th at 8:30pm, SciTech Now’s will feature “iUTAH: Science for Utah’s Water Future” the statewide EPSCoR project to study water use throughout the state. Visit the UEN-TV web site to find your translator station. If you’re unable to watch Monday evening, you can view past episodes on uen.org/scitechnow after the program has aired. These programs are also broken down into segments for educational use. The iUTAH video was also selected to air nationally with other public UEN TV partners.

Trinity is a first year graduate student under Dr. Bethany Neilson in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University. His research interests include understanding the spatial and temporal variability in groundwater/surface water interactions. Trinity grew up on a small farm in the southern Utah town of Hurricane, where he saw first-hand the importance of water use and conservation. He later developed an interest in research while completing his undergraduate degree at Utah State, where he chose to join iUTAH and become part of a larger research effort focused on water sustainability. When he is not working or studying, Trinity enjoys fly fishing and hiking with his wife, or working on projects around the house.

Michelle Barnes grew up in the Reno-Tahoe, Nevada area. Her love of the outdoors was influential in pursuing her degrees in Environmental Engineering. Michelle received, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno and a Master’s degree from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. While in Alaska, she investigated groundwater dynamics in degrading, discontinuous permafrost and the impacts on contaminant transport. Michelle is now pursuing a PhD at Utah State University under the direction of Dr. Bethany Neilson. She is eager to diversify her skill set by studying groundwater/surface water interactions as part of RFA1.

Originally from southern California, Josh moved to Nevada to attend the University of Nevada, Reno where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences with a minor in Mathematics, and was the president of the American Meteorological Society Student Chapter. Josh then attended the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to further pursue his passion of the atmospheric sciences and receive his Master’s degree. He is currently a PhD student in Climate Science in both the Watershed Sciences, Plants, Soils and Climate departments at Utah Sate University under the supervision of Dr. Jiming Jin. Josh’s research focuses primarily on using downscaling techniques in hydroclimatic modeling to improve climate projections over Utah and the inter-mountain west. Josh enjoys spending his free time in the outdoors: snowboarding, fishing, camping, hiking, mountain biking and off-roading in his Jeep. He is new to the Utah area and is excited to explore the endless outdoor possibilities it has to offer.