February 2023 e-Newsletter
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Letter from the Executive Director
Jordan Read, Executive Director, CUAHSI
 Two weeks ago the CUAHSI Board of Directors and several CUAHSI staff met in person to draft a new strategic plan. The prior version served the organization and community well by articulating shared goals and providing space for continued innovation. You can access the 2018-2023 plan here.
The process for creating the new 2023-2028 strategic plan included a significant effort to gather feedback from the community and the CUAHSI standing committees (information about the standing committees can be found here). This was a great opportunity to voice excitement for current offerings or raise suggestions for change and I’m glad many of you participated. This input was incredibly valuable in shaping new goals for CUAHSI that will guide the development of new resources and encourage integration of existing efforts. In the recent in-person meeting, our strategic planning team worked with an external expert who led us on intense working sessions designed to distill the many sources of ideas and feedback into new initiatives that will provide value to the community and new leadership charges in key areas (e.g., diversify the community and strengthen connections across constituencies). We also used this opportunity to refine the CUAHSI mission, vision, and values statements.
In the months to come, we intend to share a preview with you, followed by a formal release of the final version of the 2023-2028 CUAHSI strategic plan. I’ve enjoyed participating in this process and am appreciative of all of the hard work that went into this effort.
Voices From The Community
J.R. Slosson
 Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst
I first learned about CUAHSI while I was a PhD student at Syracuse University and had the opportunity to attend the Snow Measurement Field School in 2020. My research spans the fields of hydrology and geomorphology and snow plays important roles in a lot of the work that I do. My study areas have ranged from upstate New York, the Colorado Rockies, and the Andes Mountains and a “typical” snow event in each of these places can look very different. Consequently, the best tools to accurately capture a short duration snow event in the Front Range might not be the same as the tools I’d want to use to assess persistent snow coverage in the Northeastern U.S. I often rely on the instruction I received at the snow school to think about these kinds of questions, and I particularly appreciated the hands-on nature of the course. On a personal level, I also enjoyed the opportunity to visit field sites I had previously only read about when I was taking hydrology as a student and I now include case studies from some of those same sites in my own teaching. I can’t recommend the snow school enough to anyone who might consider attending in the future.
I’ve benefited from CUAHSI in other ways too. HydroShare is a great resource that I used to host the data for my first ever publication. As an early-career researcher, maintaining continuity of access to software can also be a challenge when moving between different institutions. I was excited to learn recently that CUAHSI provides access to Matlab and other computing resources, which can help serve an important need for those just starting their careers after finishing a degree program. I’m glad that CUAHSI is a part of our water science community and I look forward to working with CUAHSI in the future.
Twitter: @JR_Slosson
General Announcements
CUAHSI Biennial Colloquium
We invite abstract submissions for posters to be presented during the 2023 CUAHSI Biennial Meeting June 11-14, 2023 at the Granlibakken Resort in Tahoe City, CA.
We enthusiastically invite students and early career professionals to present posters, especially from those affiliated with primarily undergraduate institutions. CUAHSI has a limited amount of travel support available to help fund students and early career professionals who present posters to attend the meeting.
There are a very limited number of oral lightning talk slots available. Please indicate on your submission form if you would like to be considered for a lightning talk.
Deadline: Abstracts must be submitted using this form by Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Questions can be directed to Lisa Mucciacito at lmucciacito@cuahsi.org. More information is available on our website.
Registration for the biennial will open later this month, check back on our website soon!
New Cyberseminar Series
Register here!
The series of eight interactive online webinars will include sessions on the logistics and organizational requirements to manage successful citizen science projects, methods-focused sessions to share best practices in water resources data collection and citizen science data use in decision-making, and sessions on integrating citizen science projects in educational settings.
Are you involved in citizen science? There are a limited number of spaces for 2-minute “pop-up” talks available within this series. View the call for presenters here!
This series is convened by: Dr. Ilja van Meerveld, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Dr. Thom Bogaard, TU Delft, Netherlands; Dr. Kris Stepenuck, University of Vermont, United States; Dr. Jan Seibert, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Visit the website for more details including weekly topics and series objectives.
AGU Water Quality - Haiku Your Research
The AGU Water Quality Technical Committee held a #HaikuYourResearch competition and awarded five researchers with a Tiny Grant in the amount of $200! We are celebrating their works here! Please enjoy this featured poem by Katie Bennett, Ph.D candidate, Université de Montréal. You can find Katie on Twitter at @Katie_Bennett26 and the AGU Water Quality Technical Committee at @AGU_WQ.
New to the CUAHSI Youtube Channel: Community Contributed Videos
Members of the CUAHSI community created introductory videos on groundwater-surface water exchange. These educational videos were shared with CUAHSI and created by: Michael Gooseff, Kamini Singha, Jancoba Dorley, Joel Singley, Timothy Covino, and Ricardo Gonzalez-Pinzon. Films Produced by Ryan Vachon. They can be viewed on the CUAHSI YouTube Channel here.
New Funding Opportunities
CUAHSI offers funding opportunities for students and researchers in the Water Sciences. While these awards and fellowships may be relatively small, the impact may be large. Get your application materials ready! The call for proposals is open now for both the Instrumentation Discovery Travel Grant and the Let's Talk About Water grant.
The deadline to apply is April 3, 2023.
You will find the links to apply in the information page for each of the grants (links above). If you have questions about any of CUAHSI funding opportunities, please contact Veronica Sosa Gonzalez at vgonzalez@cuahsi.org.
CUAHSI Virtual University (CVU)
In CVU, a series of 1-credit, 4-week modules are taught by faculty in participating universities. Modules are self-contained and students enroll in the three modules most relevant to their interests to receive three hours of credit at their home university. Participating faculty teach their 4-week module and serve as instructor-of-record for students from their university who enroll in CVU. Students gain access to material that might not be offered at their home institution.
- Students: Interested in participating in CVU? Encourage your instructors to apply.
- Faculty: Interested in participating? Appy here by February 10th.
More details can be found on our website.
We welcome the formation of subject matter tracks! We are particularly interested in forming a series of modules related to any of the following topics: Critical Zone Science, Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS), Remote Sensing, and/or Hydrogeophysics. If you are a specialist in any of these areas and are interested in teaching in CVU, please contact Veronica Sosa Gonzalez vgonzalez@cuahsi.org, for more information.
Soliciting Nominations for two CUAHSI Board of Director Positions
The nominating committee, Sarah H. Ledford and Steve Loheide, are soliciting nominations from the member representatives for two open Board of Director (BoD) positions, for terms that end December 31, 2024.
BoD positions are key to the governance of CUAHSI, overseeing the management and fiscal activities of the organization. Board members must have a clear commitment to the principles of CUAHSI, namely the importance of advancing water science by strengthening interdisciplinary collaborations in the water science community, empowering the community by providing critical infrastructure, and promoting education in the water sciences at all levels.
Board member nominees must be a CUAHSI Representative at a CUAHSI Member institution for at least 60 days before the election, or before May 1, 2023 and member institutions must be up-to-date on their dues. The BoD meet monthly, along with two 2-3 day in-person meetings per year. In addition, each Board member serves in additional roles on committees.
We welcome self-nominations and nominations of others. We welcome applications for nominations for members of our hydrologic community from a wide range of perspectives, career stage, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and other identities.
If you are nominating yourself, please let us briefly know why you are interested in joining the BoD in your application. If you are nominating someone else, we will reach out to that person to gauge interest and availability, so please make sure to include an email address of your nominee.
Following the CUAHSI Code of Conduct policy, all nominees will be required to complete a disclosure form before they are put on the ballot.
Applications for nominations must be submitted no later than March 15, 2023 to sledford@gsu.edu.
CUAHSI Standing Committee Volunteer Opportunities
Have you been looking for a way to provide leadership in the field of water sciences? The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Education and Outreach standing committees are currently seeking new members. To apply for either committee you can fill out an application or contact Veronica Sosa Gonzalez at vgonzalez@cuahsi.org.
Upcoming Events
I Hack Water: A Hackathon
April 14 -16, 2023, Cambridge, MA
Register here
I Hack Water is a collaborative space for exploring water issues. Join us for a 3-day hackathon to explore solutions to local water issues through innovative science communication and data access.
We encourage participation from a wide range of backgrounds to broaden our collective understanding of water resources and deliver creative solutions that address local water issues. You will come away from I Hack Water with a better understanding of how to find, use, and communicate scientific data to inform local water issues and improve water literacy. This year’s event focuses on water issues local to the greater Boston area.
All backgrounds and skill sets are welcome. Whether you’re interested in coding, exploring new and innovative technologies, learning about water challenges, meeting and networking with new people, or learning new skills – we hope you'll join us!
Early-bird registration discounts until March 20, 2023.
Navigating the NSF Hydrologic Sciences Program
Monday, March 27th at 2:00 pm ET
Register here
Join NSF Program Directors in Hydrologic Sciences to discuss the scope of Hydrologic Sciences and related programs at NSF, the program goals for broadening participation and other broader impact activities, criteria used to evaluate and rate proposals at NSF, and the various required elements in NSF proposals. The workshop is appropriate for early career researchers new to NSF, researchers interested in related interdisciplinary programs at NSF, experienced researchers who want to reconnect with or are unfamiliar with the new Hydrologic Sciences program solicitation, and any participant interested in learning about funding opportunities in hydrology and related fields at NSF.
HydroShare
HydroShare Data Spotlight
Predictive modelers in environmental science face the continuous challenge of minimizing uncertainty and bias in their models. Precipitation forecasting is no less beholden to such challenges. This month CUAHSI spotlights a highly visited resource in HydroShare containing data that seeks to provide a framework for assessing uncertainty and bias in precipitation forecasting. The authors propose a method for evaluation and verification, and apply the method to verify four high profile predictive forecasting products. To those interested in learning more, please see “Data and code repository: a mutual information theory-based approach for assessing uncertainties in deterministic multi-category precipitation forecasts”
New Videos Added to the HydroShare How To Series
- How To: An introduction to publishing in HydroShare
- HydroShare How To: Data Privacy
- HydroShare How To: Add Related Geospatial Features in HydroShare
For more information please visit https://help.hydroshare.org/
HydroShare Release 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3
In these releases we added new functionality and addressed several bugs.
New Functionality:
- Implemented a check for completeness and accuracy of metadata for any request for publication
- Implemented a check for prohibited characters in filenames
- Implemented a more convenient way to select State/Region field in the profile page
- Extended the schema.org implementation to include the geoconnex names
- Improved page loading by redesigning the database queries
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug in the Geoconnex implementation retrieving the Mainstem Rivers Collection
- Fixed an issue in the title on the resource landing page
- Fixed an issue with the CV not showing on the profile page
- Implemented a check to prevent accidental overwriting of existing zipfiles
- Corrected an issue in the web app connector template where not all fields were shown
For more detail on this and previous releases, please check here.
Calendar Dates
Don't Miss These Opportunities
- CUAHSI Virtual University Faculty Applications - Deadline to apply February 10, 2023
- Weekly Cyderseminar Series: Integrating Citizen Science with Water Resources Research Across the Globe - March 1 - April 19, 2023
- CUAHSI Biennial Call for Posters and Lightning Talks - Deadline to submit March 15, 2023
- Navigating the NSF Hydrologic Sciences Program - March 27, 2023, 2pm ET
- Instrumentation Discovery Travel Grant - Deadline to apply April 3, 2023
- Let's Talk About Water - Deadline to apply April 3, 2023
- I Hack Water - April 14-16, 2023, Cambridge, MA
- Save the date for ICRW8 - June 5-8, 2023, Corvallis, OR
- Save the date for the CUAHSI Biennial - June 11-14, 2023, Tahoe City, CA
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