Research Initiation Awards
To pursue the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary work across departments in the Water Sciences at Utah State University, the Water Initiative supports interdisciplinary pilot research studies by USU faculty in the broad area of Water Sciences. In 2006, this program was expanded to include teaching and class development in addition to the original focus of research studies. These projects are selected on the basis of them serving the common good goal of strengthening interdisciplinary water science at USU. This program is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research and education, build cooperation and institutional aspects of an integrated water sciences research and academic program, and attract additional interdisciplinary funding to USU water programs thereby elevating the prominence of USU in water sciences.
| Investigators | Title |
| Timothy Doyle, Scott Jones | Numerical Methods for Sensing Moisture and Physical Condition of Soils |
| Karin Kettenring, David Rosenberg | Allocating scarce water to benefit wetlands and wetland plant communities at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge: ecological experiments and optimization modeling |
| Tammy Rittenour, Lawrence Hipps, Robert Gillies, James Long, Justin DeRose | Extending the Record of Drought and Discharge Variations in the Bear River Drainage through Tree-ring Reconstructions |
| Investigators | Title |
| Anhong Zhou | Surveillance Sensing Waterborne Pathogen Cryptosporidium |
| Mevin Hooten | Modeling Seasonal and Inter-Annual Dynamics of Intermountain Snow Water Storage |
| Scott Miller | Factors affecting Bonneville cutthroat trout recovery: developing links among grazing cessation, riparian vegetation, and stream food webs |
| Jim Powell | Constructing an Intermediate-Complexity Biological Modeling Framework for Nutrient Cycling in Lakes Based on Physical Structure |
| Neilson, Beth | Assessing a Variable Effective Source Area (VESA) Modification of TOPMODEL for Predicting Soil Moisture |
| Ronald J. Ryel, Scott Jones), Tamao Kasahara, and A. Joshua Leffler | Ecohydrology of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) communities |
| Thomas Hauser | Three dimensional unsteady geomorphology fluid flow modeling |
| Investigators | Title |
| Paul Grams, Phaedra Budy, Jack Schmidt | Proposal to initiate linkages between geomorphology and fisheries ecology researh on the Cub River, Idaho and Logan River, Utah |
| Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David K. Stevens, Nancy O. Mesner | Continuous Water Quality Monitoring of Mud Lake to Support Evaluation of Effects of Bear River Water Diverted into Bear Lake |
| Krishna Shenai, Scott Jones, Mac McKee | Development of Cost-Effective Soil Properties Sensor for Ubiquitous Wireless Networks |
| Tamao Kasahara, Matthew Baker | Analyzing the effect of watershed topography on water residence time and hydrologic scaling in semi-arid, alpine catchments |
| Investigators | Title |
| James Evans | Geochronolgy of Carbonates to Constrain Paleohydrology of the Bear River Range, and CO 2 -charged Systems of SE Utah |
| David Robinson, Timothy Doyle, Scott Jones | Modeling the Dielectric Properties of Granular Media to Determine Water Content |
| Brad Cole, Dan Davis, Bob Parson, Steve Sturgeon, Cheryl Walters | Bear River Watershed Historical Bibliography Digital Collection |
| Phaedra Budy, Mark Vinson, Gary Thiede | Factors Affecting Native Cutthroat Trout Population Dynamics, Abundance, and Distribution in the Logan and Bear River Drainages: Comparing the Effects of Varying Degrees of Anthropogenic Impact |
| Arthur Caplan, Terry Glover | Policy Decision Modeling for Water Quality Improvement |
| Tom Lachmar, David Chandler, Wynn R Walker | Spring Monitoring and Measurement of Non-Point Source Recharge and Canal Seepage in Cache Valley, Utah |