AMES, Iowa – A fall seminar series on Iowa water quality research focused on, "New Technologies, New Tools and Emerging Concerns" begins Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, hosted by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University. The presentations will take place the second Wednesday of each month, from 3-4 p.m., through Dec. 8. This year’s hybrid seminar series will be presented online and in-person at 1306 Elings Hall, 605 Bissell Road, on the Iowa State University campus. Sessions are free and open to the public.
“In this new seminar series, we are providing a forum for some of Iowa’s watershed researchers to highlight new technologies and tools they are exploring to study water quality issues,” said INRC Director Matt Helmers. “They will also be bringing forward emerging concerns that the state is likely to face as we move to tackle water quality and nutrient issues. We expect this fall’s research seminar series to offer some innovative ideas for improving our scientific approaches to nutrient reduction.”
Sessions will be:
- September 8 - The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) and its Recent Advancements
Presenter Emily Zimmerman is an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. Her research interests focus on understanding the relationship between land use and ecosystem services in working landscapes, using geospatial data and models, like the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF).
- October 13 - Proposed Water Quality Index for Cornbelt Streams
Presenter Chris Jones is a research engineer at the University of Iowa IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering. An expert in water quality monitoring, he is leading a team exploring the effectiveness of turbidity sensors for estimating phosphorus in Iowa’s waters.
- November 10 - Study of the Boone River Watershed: Linking an Agroecosystem Model with a Process-based Hydrologic Model
Presenter Antonio Arenas is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State, and a member of the team that created the Generic Hydrologic Overland-Subsurface Toolkit (GHOST), which allows users to create predictions for stream flows or other purposes.
- December 8 - Iowa Agricultural Microbiomes and Their Connection with Nutrient Reduction Strategies
Presenter Adina Howe is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on identifying microbial drivers of global change and investigating interactions within microbial communities.
Participants are asked to register in advance. The presentations will be recorded and posted on INRC’s website with speakers’ permission.
Elings Hall is located on the west side of the Iowa State campus. Off-campus attendees are encouraged to park in the Memorial Union parking ramp, 2229 Lincoln Way, due to limited public parking near Elings Hall.
Find more details at the INRC website, including an INRC Fall 2021 Water Research Seminar Series flyer to post or share.
For questions, contact Malcolm Robertson, INRC Program Coordinator, malcolmr@iastate.edu.
The Iowa Nutrient Research Center was established by the Iowa Board of Regents in response to legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature in 2013. The center pursues science-based approaches to areas that include evaluating the performance of current and emerging nutrient management practices and providing recommendations on implementing the practices and developing new practices. Iowa State leads the partnership that includes the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. Since its inception, the center has supported more than 104 projects.
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