On Friday, October 18, the UGA River Basin Center hosted their second annual water science & policy poster contest. The symposium, titled “Confluence,” brought together graduate students and interested faculty from all walks– or swims– of life: ecologists, engineers, landscape designers, anthropologists and more were able to explore and engage with over 30 posters.
To recognize the exciting work going on across campus and the hard work grad students put into their projects, cash prizes totalling over $2,500 were awarded by a crew of faculty and postdoctoral judges that evaluated students’ poster design and presentation skills. We’re proud to say several winners came from the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, where a significant portion of affiliate work focuses on the ways we engage with water, from biogeochemistry of wetlands to how we respond to floods.
Congratulations to all of the contest winners:
1st Prize ($600 each):
- Kaili Gregory, Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources
- Olajide Oladipo, Department of Geology
2nd Prize ($400):
- Taylor Faherty, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
3rd Prize ($200 each):
- Kwaku Asiedu, Department of Geology
- Swaty Kajaria, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Luciana Iannone Tarcha, College of Engineering
- Monika Giri, Department of Anthropology
- Shishir Rao, Odum School of Ecology
- Marco Garcia, College of Engineering
All IRIS student presenters:
- Clare DeBerry: Optimization of Marsh Terrace Design in Louisiana
- Dennis Granados-Duran: Hydraulic model for impairment sizing on flood mitigation and ecological implications
- Derek McAden: Phosphorus removal and dissolved oxygen dynamics in the Shannon Wetlands
- Luciana Iannone Tarcha: Towards an Operational Compound Flood Forecasting Model: A Case Study for the St. Johns River, Florida
- Logan Bayer: Redefining the Bounds of Approximations to the Saint-Venant Equations for Overland and Riverine Flows in Compound Flood Simulations
- Lina Cardenas Caro: Compound flood modeling for coastal military installations and surrounding communities
- Marco Garcia: A multi-model approach to evaluate hybrid coastal features: A resilience-based assessment.
- Monika Giri: Voluntary Buyouts for Levee Setbacks
- Maria Laura Siqueira: A Comparative Assessment of the Efficacy of Bioretention Systems for Stormwater Management in Inland and Coastal Environments
- Nick Austin: Mannington Meadows: A study of erosion and plans for restoration
- Orlando Viloria-Marimon: Hydrological and Hydraulic Modeling of Coastal Watersheds at an Island-Scale
- Rebecca Stanley: Optimal Model Resolution for Accurate Hydrodynamic and Marsh Biomass Predictions under Sea Level Rise
- Rachel Dingley: Resilient Parking Lot Design: LID Retrofit
- Stevens Charles: Impact of Controlled Overtopping on Flood Mitigation and Wetland Rehabilitation
- Shishir Rao: Hydropower dams alter flows, ecosystems and livelihoods in tropical estuaries of India
Over 100 people visited throughout the 3-hour event: proud faculty advisors watching their students present, students asking questions about their friends’ research, and attendees from diverse disciplines making new connections. Confluence is quickly becoming an event our team looks forward to each year, and we’re excited to see what kind of work is featured next time!
This event was generously supported by the Graduate School, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography, Department of Geology, Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, Odum School of Ecology, and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, which made the student awards possible. Thank you to the River Basin Center for hosting!
Check out more photos from the event here.
Top: College of Engineering student Lina Cardenas-Caro presents her poster to one of the contest judges.