Charles Vorosmarty

Education

The Water Systems Analysis Group faculty are active in graduate and undergraduate training at UNH. An inquiry-based course entitled, "Macro-Scale Hydrology" for graduate and upper level undergraduate students is at the center of the WSAG teaching agenda. The course, jointly offered by the EOS Institute and the Department of Earth Sciences, is dedicated to both a survey of key developments in analysis of the global water cycle and to an introduction to team-based research in the geosciences. The course is a two-semester sequence culminating in the preparation of a peer-reviewed publication by members of the class.

WSAG has also promoted several successful interactions with young scientists from Nepal, Russia, Brazil, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Japan, Venezuela, France, Jamaica, Hungary, and Korea. We are planning to establish a more formal International Training Program for Water Studies within WSAG to bring young scientists from around the world to ISEOS for training on state-of-the-art water research techniques. We will target in particular developing world researchers, as these are, in many cases, the very scientists who will study the most immediate and often most severe environmental deterioration of water systems.

EOS/ESCI 717/817: Macro-Scale Hydrology

This course focuses on the numerous roles that water plays in the Earth System and how the water cycle has been altered by global change. Lectures and associated readings will provide an introduction to current, "hot" topics in macro-scale hydrological research, introduce students to multi-investigator team research, and provide practical tools for improved science writing.

Major Goal:

Previous classes published papers describing human modification of global hydrology and water resources. Our work appeared in internationally recognized journals (Science, Ambio, Global and Planetary Change), in National Geographic, and on a front page NY Times article.

Students will review the scientific literature, actively exchange information and ideas, perform necessary analysis and begin drafting a first version of the document in the Fall. A second semester follow-up (also 4.0 credits) is devoted to final manuscript preparation.

Topics include: