“Engineering with Nature – An Ode to Water, Wood, and Stone” at SIFF

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Engineering with Nature: An Ode to Wood, Water, and Stone
Poster for “Engineering with Nature: An Ode to Wood, Water, and Stone”

To help tell the powerful story about a once-polluted and neglected creek that is becoming a flourishing home for spawning salmon, the documentary Engineering with Nature – An Ode to Water, Wood, and Stone, was selected to premiere at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) on Saturday, June 8.

Watch the trailer

Documenting the water quality changes in the creek, which is Seattle’s largest urban watershed and winds its way through north Seattle, are UW associate professor of civil & environmental engineering Edward Kolodziej and UW-Tacoma Center for Urban Waters postdoc Kathy Peter. Kolodziej is also an associate professor of science and mathematics at the Center for Urban Waters and UW-Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (SIAS).

The film will premiere at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2pm at Seattle Central Library, located at 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle. The premiere was selected for a free public screening, but it’s best to arrive early as tickets (for 260 seats) will be given out on a first come first served basis. The doors open at 1:30pm, but the film maker recommends arriving between 12:30-1pm. Following the premiere, the project’s key participants will participate in a Q&A session, including Kolodziej.

Read more about the making of the film

Washington Water Trust 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Seattle

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Celebrate adventure and conservation with the Washington Water Trust at an evening of happy hour and award-winning environmental films from around the world!

When: Tuesday, June 18th, 2019 | 5:30 PM Happy Hour | 6:30 PM Films
Where: SIFF Cinema Egyptian | 805 E Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122

Tickets are $35 and include:

  • Festival admission
  • A Klean Kanteen steel pint cup with WWT logo
  • A digital Chinook Book subscription
  • One happy hour beer/wine/soda
  • Acknowledgement as a valued WWT supporter

Learn more

Get Tickets

SIFF Science Documentary Features FWI Faculty

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Engineering with Nature: An Ode to Wood, Water, and Stone
Poster for “Engineering with Nature: An Ode to Wood, Water, and Stone”

By Brooke Shields, UW Civil & Environmental Engineering

If Thornton Creek could tell a story, it would not only be surprising— it would be surprisingly good.

To help tell the powerful story about a once-polluted and neglected creek that is becoming a flourishing home for spawning salmon, the documentary Engineering with Nature – An Ode to Water, Wood, and Stone, was selected to premiere at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) on Saturday, June 8.

Edward Kolodziej, associate professor of civil & environmental engineering at UW and at UW-Tacoma School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and Center for Urban Waters
Edward Kolodziej, UW associate professor of civil & environmental engineering and UW-Tacoma associate professor of science and mathematics at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and Center for Urban Waters

Documenting the water quality changes in the creek, which is Seattle’s largest urban watershed and winds its way through north Seattle, are UW associate professor of civil & environmental engineering Edward Kolodziej and UW-Tacoma Center for Urban Waters postdoc Kathy Peter.

Watch the trailer

“The filmmakers, Leaping Frog Films, are very excited about the film being selected for SIFF,” said Kolodziej, also an associate professor of science and mathematics at the Center for Urban Waters and UW-Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (SIAS). “It’s quite difficult to get into SIFF, as there is a low acceptance rate.”

Filmed on location at Thornton Creek last year, Kolodziej and Peter discuss a water quality study they conducted for Seattle Public Utilities in 2017; they later published a paper with the results. In the film they discuss how the engineered streambed used modified natural processes to remove pollution.

Four years in the making, the documentary highlights the success of Seattle’s Thornton Creek Project. Initiated by Seattle Public Utilities as a neighborhood flood control project, the effort entailed rebuilding 1,600 feet of the creek’s channel. Workers realigned the channel, tore out the fill from development and repositioned the creek back into its natural flood plain.

Following the radical redevelopment project that revitalized the creek and cleaned up the water by removing pollutants through streambed filtration, adjacent neighborhoods no longer flood, water quality has improved, and, most surprisingly, Chinook salmon have returned to the creek to spawn. Researchers say the project could be an example for how to design cities with healthy ecosystems despite human-caused pollution.

According to the filmmakers, Leaping Frog Films, “This visionary project successfully demonstrates a fresh new approach to urban land use planning, storm water treatment, water quality management, and stream restoration, all of which have ‘real-life’ implications for coping with the increasing effects of climate change and urbanization.”

Free film premiere

The film will premiere at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2pm at Seattle Central Library, located at 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle. The premiere was selected for a free public screening, but it’s best to arrive early as tickets (for 260 seats) will be given out on a first come first served basis. The doors open at 1:30pm, but the film maker recommends arriving between 12:30-1pm. Following the premiere, the project’s key participants will participate in a Q&A session, including Kolodziej.

Learn more about the premiere

Freshwater Initiative Spring Celebration

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Do you have a dream research project that you want to share with academic community? If so, Freshwater Initiative invites you to present your idea in a lightning talk (2-3 minutes) answering the following question: if you had unlimited funding for a year, what is one interdisciplinary question you would pursue?

With this event, we also want to celebrate the many accomplishments of the Freshwater Initiative (FWI) this past year. From Waterhackweek to the Freshwater Exploration Series, the graduate student steering committee has worked hard to provide students with opportunities for academic development and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Come celebrate our organization’s successes, learn more about how you can be a leader in FWI, and flex your academic creativity with a lightning talk! Refreshments and pizza will be provided.

What: Freshwater Initiative Spring Celebration and Lightning Talks

When: Wednesday, May 29, 4:00 – 6:00 PM

Where: Physics/Astronomy Tower, Room C610C

Details: We will start with a quick info session about the Freshwater Initiative before transitioning into lightning talks. Attendees will vote on their favorite talks and the winner will receive a small prize.

RSVP

Contact Roxana Rautu with questions: rautu92@uw.edu.

Dept. of Ecology Water Resources Program Process Management Coordinator

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Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen

Protecting Washington State’s environment for current and future generations is what we do every day at Ecology. We are a culture that is invested in making a difference. If you want to join a team that is highly effective, collaborative, has leadership that embraces the value of people, and believes in the fun factor, Ecology is a good fit.

The Water Resources (WR) program is looking to fill a Water Resources Program Process Management Coordinator (Environmental Specialist 2) position. This position will be located in our Northwest Regional Office (NWRO) in Bellevue, WA.

Water Resources Program Process Management Coordinator position will provide critical process support to the Northwest Region Water Resources Section. In this capacity, the position will work closely with the Water Resources Streamflow Restoration Unit and Technical Unit to ensure the success of the Section’s core work.

We are looking for applicants who possess excellent people skills, the ability to quickly assess a situation and make a decision, and the ability to adapt daily to the needs of a new program.

As an agency, our mission is to protect, preserve and enhance Washington’s environment for current and future generations. We invest in our employees to create and sustain a working environment that encourages creative leadership, effective resource management, teamwork, professionalism and accountability.

Some of the key work activities of the Water Resources Program Process Management Coordinator position are:

Support Regional Streamflow Restoration Implementation:

Process and Committee Support:

  • Assists in implementing Streamflow Restoration RCW 90.94, this position supports four separate Watershed Restoration and Enhancement Committees and the development of watershed restoration and enhancement plans, working closely with Ecology’s Streamflow Restoration Leads.
  • Supports efficient and effective implementation of key legislation and development of plans that will offset water use in select watersheds.
  • Assists in preparing for monthly committee and public meetings, which may include management of meeting logistics, document development and management, and identifying and researching policy or legal questions that need further analysis. Develops a schedule and manages complex logistics for project site visits, developing and reviewing template letters and documents, and ensuring compliance with public engagement and process transparency.
  • Sits in for the Streamflow Restoration Leads for workgroup meetings as appropriate and needed.
  • Works closely with the Unit Supervisor and Streamflow Restoration Leads to prepare the watershed restoration and enhancement plans which may include drafting background material, compiling technical reports, reviewing and incorporating public comments, and assisting with the State Environmental Policy Act review.

Implementation of Regional Grant Management:

  • Works closely with the Streamflow Restoration Leads (grant managers) to ensure successful implementation of the streamflow restoration funding program in the Northwest Region per RCW 90.94.
  • Ensures appropriate grant management and grantee compliance, the position may assist in review of grantee deliverables, coordination of site visits, drafting project summaries for communication materials, identification of concerns with project implementation, and providing assistance to grant recipients in planning, design, construction, and/or implementation of environmental protection projects.
  • Supports administration of the streamflow restoration funding program throughout the Northwest Region, including organizing and maintaining files on SharePoint and other systems as well as copying, printing and scanning materials.

Permit Process and Maintenance Support: 

  • Supports the section’s critical role in managing water resources in the Northwest Region.
  • Assists with permit processing and maintenance, including reviewing permits for technical accuracy and finalizing work products prepared by senior permitting and technical staff, maintaining and updating permit-related templates, and substantively assisting the technical and permitting team with core work.

Learn More

 

Sharing Data Helps Puerto Ricans Rebound After Hurricane Maria

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A pathway leads to a community water treatment plant in rural southeastern Puerto Rico. To assist Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is seeking to collect ecological, water quality, and population health data
A pathway leads to a community water treatment plant in rural southeastern Puerto Rico. To assist Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is seeking to collect ecological, water quality, and population health data. Credit: Tim Sauder, Olin College of Engineering, CC BY 4.0

By Julia Hart, Christina Bandaragoda, and Graciela Ramirez-Toro

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane. At the time, Maria was the fifth largest storm to hit the United States and the largest to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years. Bisecting the island with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour), Maria left a trail of devastation in its path and would go on to claim nearly 3,000 lives. Heavy winds and flash flooding razed homes, businesses, and power lines, plunging Puerto Rico’s nearly 3.4 million people into darkness and underscoring concerns of how we address vulnerability and adaptation planning and highlighting opportunities for transformative change.

In the weeks that followed Maria, a water crisis ensued. Without electricity, water could not be treated or distributed to people’s homes; residents had no drinking water or water with which to bathe or flush a toilet. As a result, residents turned to potentially contaminated streams, rivers, and creeks, risking exposure to disease-causing bacteria like Leptospira. A month following the storm, several confirmed cases of leptospirosis, which may be fatal, were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After Maria, widespread disruption of drinking water treatment and distribution systems, as well as a lack of information regarding water quality, posed a significant health risk in Puerto Rico. Thus, the hurricane demonstrated a need to strategically archive and disseminate data relevant to water quality and public health to both researchers and community members.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers sought to fill this need, with support from the National Science Foundation. The team included researchers at the University of Washington, Virginia Tech, University of Pennsylvania, Utah State University, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI). These researchers developed an open-source research software infrastructure to support scientific investigation and data-driven decision-making following natural disasters, with a pilot project focused on drinking water and Hurricane Maria data. The team maintains that the scientific community can do more to reduce the cost and human impact of destructive hurricanes.

Read the full project update via EOS

CUAHSI Postdoctoral Research Associate in Flood Resilience

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CUAHSI Logo

CUAHSI is hiring! We have a position open for one Postdoc Research Associate (RA). This individual will need experience in the general area of improving community resilience to flood disasters. The RA will conduct independent research and will be monitored by one or more faculty at the university of the RA’s choosing.

We are looking for an individual who can start immediately with an expected term of one year, and extendable to two years. The position includes full benefits, a $50,000 a year salary and $10,000 in discretionary funds. Most of which will support travel to the National Water Center in addition to any research funds that may be directed to the project by mentors.

Qualifications and Criteria:

Requirements for the position include a Ph.D. in a field of study relevant to flooding, the ability to take initiative and work independently, and an interest in contributing to a dialogue across disciplinary boundaries.

Application Instructions:

For more details on this position including application instructions, please submit the required items to https://proposalspace.com/calls/d/1032 by June 15, 2019.

One-Third of the World’s Longest Rivers Remain Free-Flowing, New Analysis Finds

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Grand Coulee Dam
The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington. (WSDOT)

Michelle Ma, UW News

May 8, 2019

Just over one-third of the world’s 246 longest rivers remain free-flowing, according to a new study published May 8 in Nature. Dams and reservoirs are drastically reducing the diverse benefits that healthy rivers provide to people and nature across the globe.

Laird River
The Laird River in Canada is among the 10 longest free-flowing rivers in the country.

A team of 34 international researchers from McGill University, World Wildlife Fund, the University of Washington and other institutions assessed the connectivity status of 12 million kilometers of rivers worldwide, providing the first-ever global assessment of the location and extent of the planet’s remaining free-flowing rivers.

Among other findings, the researchers determined that only 21 of the world’s 91 rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) that originally flowed to the ocean still retain a direct connection from source to sea. The planet’s remaining free-flowing rivers are largely restricted to remote regions of the Arctic, the Amazon Basin and the Congo Basin.

“The world’s rivers form an intricate network with vital links to land, groundwater, and the atmosphere,’’ said lead author Günther Grill of McGill’s Department of Geography. “Free-flowing rivers are important for humans and the environment alike, yet economic development around the world is making them increasingly rare. Using satellite imagery and other data, our study examines the extent of these rivers in more detail than ever before.”

Dams and reservoirs are the leading contributors to connectivity loss in global rivers. The study estimates there are around 60,000 large dams worldwide, and more than 3,700 hydropower dams are currently planned or under construction. They are often planned and built at the individual project level, making it difficult to assess their real impacts across an entire basin or region.

Republic of Congo hydropower dam
The town of Sembé in the Republic of the Congo will receive power from this newly constructed hydropower dam. (Jaap van der Waarde / WWF-Netherlands)

“Our findings are quite sobering — ongoing dam construction will continue to dwindle the number of remaining free-flowing rivers,” said co-author Julian Olden, a professor at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “But, optimistically, the removal of aging and obsolete dams can help reverse this course.”

Healthy rivers support freshwater fish stocks that improve food security for hundreds of millions of people, deliver sediment that keeps deltas above rising seas, mitigate the impact of extreme floods and droughts, prevent loss of infrastructure and fields to erosion and support a wealth of biodiversity. Disrupting rivers’ connectivity often diminishes or even eliminates these critical ecosystem services.

“Science clearly points to the importance of habitat connectivity to support healthy populations of Pacific salmon,” Olden said. “The findings of our study put the challenges facing the Columbia River Basin and many Puget Sound rivers into a global context.”

Protecting remaining free-flowing rivers is also crucial to saving biodiversity in freshwater systems. Recent analysis of 16,704 populations of wildlife globally showed that populations of freshwater species experienced the most pronounced decline of all vertebrates over the past half century, falling on average 83 percent since 1970.

Mekong River, Laos
Life along the banks of the Mekong River in Laos. (Nicolas Axelrod / Ruom / WWF-Greater Mekong)

The study also notes that climate change will further threaten the health of rivers worldwide. Rising temperatures are already impacting flow patterns, water quality and biodiversity. Meanwhile, as countries around the world shift to low-carbon economies, hydropower planning and development is accelerating, adding urgency to the need to develop energy systems that minimize overall environmental and social impact.

“While hydropower inevitably has a role to play in the renewable energy landscape, countries should also consider other renewable options,” said Michele Thieme, lead freshwater scientist at World Wildlife Fund. “Well-planned wind and solar energy can have less detrimental impacts on rivers and the communities, cities, and biodiversity that rely on them.”

The international community is committed to protect and restore rivers under Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, which requires countries to track the extent and condition of water-related ecosystems. This study delivers methods and data necessary for countries )to maintain and restore free-flowing rivers around the world.

See the paper for a full list of co-authors and institutions.

This study was funded by World Wildlife Fund, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and McGill University.

For more information, contact Olden at olden@uw.edu. To reach authors at McGill University or World Wildlife Fund, contact Brooke Hirsheimer at brooke.hirsheimer@wwfus.org or (202) 495-4759.

This has been adapted from a World Wildlife Fund news release.

Protecting Bristol Bay: A Lesson from Nicaragua

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Nushagak River draining into Bristol Bay
Erin McKittrick
Nushagak River draining into Bristol Bay

by Amanda Manaster, co-chair, Freshwater Initiative Student Steering Committee 

In 2001, the Pebble Mine Project was introduced by Canadian mining company Northern Dynasty Minerals, Ltd. (NDM). The proposed copper/gold/molybdenum open-pit mine would be located in the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay, which is home to the world’s most productive sockeye salmon run.

Location of the proposed Pebble Mine with respect to Bristol Bay
Location of the proposed Pebble Mine with respect to Bristol Bay (source: NDM Pebble Project)

Between 2014 and 2017, NDM and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went back and forth regarding a potential veto of the Pebble Mine Project. In 2017, NDM and the EPA reached a settlement and, since then, NDM has worked toward getting the necessary permits for Pebble Mine, one of which involves a comprehensive study of potential environmental impacts. On February 20, 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft Environmental Impacts Statement (dEIS).

The dEIS analyses conclude that the mine does not pose a large threat to the Bristol Bay ecosystem. However, researchers are concerned about the science presented in the dEIS. Notably, the analyses cover only the 20-year life span of the mine while ecosystem damages could last hundreds of years, long-term risks due to climate change are hardly mentioned, and environmental stressors are assumed to occur independently of each other when, in fact, they are often synergistic.

The Pebble Mine Project is not the first threat seen by the freshwater world—just six years ago, the freshwater of Lake Nicaragua was threatened by an attempt to build an alternative to the Panama Canal.

 

Location of the proposed Nicaragua canal with respect to Lake Nicaragua.
Location of the proposed Nicaragua canal with respect to Lake Nicaragua (source: Smithsonian Magazine)

In 2013, the Nicaraguan government sanctioned the construction of an interoceanic canal to be carried out by Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Corporation (HKND). Like the dEIS of the Pebble Mine Project, the proposed Nicaragua canal required an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) before construction. In November 2015, the Nicaraguan government granted the environmental permit after receiving the ESIA from Environmental Resources Management (ERM), an international consulting company.

However, the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences stepped in, facilitating an international workshop where researchers came together to evaluate the ESIA. The experts brought to light several issues regarding the science within the ESIA, focusing on five main areas: water and sediments, biodiversity, natural hazards and risks, social and economic implications, and international standards.

Mike Brett, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington whose research focuses on biological limnology, was among the workshop participants. He sees many parallels between the Nicaragua canal project and the Pebble Mine project, especially the potential negative impacts on the two freshwater environments: Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua and the headwaters of Bristol Bay in Alaska.

“One of the main parallels I see is the impact that each of these projects would have on the water quality in the area. In Nicaragua, about a third of the canal was set to go through Lake Nicaragua. The canal would have to be about 20 meters deep, which is deeper than Lake Nicaragua by about 10 meters,” says Brett. “This would require a large trench to be dug, and the excavation of the aquatic sediments would be the largest ever done. Those sediments need to be placed somewhere, and they would end up back in the lake, messing with water turbidity and the natural ecosystems.

“In Bristol Bay, we’d see a change in water quality with a slightly different cause: chemical reactions between the water and some of the minerals being mined. This wouldn’t be an immediate effect, rather it would occur over the next hundred years. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore it.”

“Another thing that’s very similar between the two is the issue with indigenous rights,” says Brett. “This was a big issue with the Nicaragua Canal because it was going to cut through some areas that were set aside for indigenous communities.  It’s also definitely an issue seen with Pebble Mine. The coastal tribes in Alaska are fighting against the mine because their ways of life depend on Bristol Bay salmon.”

In addition, supporters of these projects tout the purported economic benefits to the regions, but, in reality, foreign companies would profit.

The parallels are stark and concerning, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. By banding together to review the science and make their voices heard, Brett and his colleagues were able to preserve a valuable resource for Nicaragua. The final evaluation by the workshop participants was widely publicized, and when combined with a Chinese stock market crash in 2015-16, it led to the abandonment of the Nicaragua canal project in 2017.

While no workshop is currently being assembled to evaluate the dEIS for the Pebble Mine Project, the people of the freshwater world can still make a difference. The dEIS is open for public comment until June 29th, 2019.  Public comments rooted in science and fact will help drive home that Bristol Bay is no place for a mine. The deadline is fast-approaching, but for the sake of Bristol Bay, let’s make our voices heard.

To submit a public comment, go to https://pebbleprojecteis.com/

Participants Reflect on First Waterhackweek

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FWI and the UW eScience institute hosted the first Waterhackweek, a five-day collaborative event for freshwater-related data science, March 25 – 29, 2019. We asked participants to give us their insight on the event — here are their thoughts.

Zahra Sharifnezhadazizi
Zahra Sharifnezhadazizi, City College of New York

Zahra Sharifnezhadazizi, PhD candidate, The City College of New York

I am pursuing a doctorate in environmental engineering at City College of New York (CCNY) where I am working on satellite remote sensing data analysis for environmental purposes. The main focus of my current research is remote sensing analysis of Land Surface Emissivity with high spatial and temporal resolution which makes me handling a huge volume of data using MATLAB. In order to be able to apply novel data analytics, I started to attend the CUAHSI Cyberseminar Series which introduced me to new horizons of data analysis with Python.

Honestly, I simply imagined that it would be one of those boring compact lectures in a few sessions. However, later events brought me a completely different view. At first, it motivated me to start a three-week online Python course. Then, I went on with the webinars and became familiar with all sets of new tools and websites such as Hydroshare workflow, Jupyter notebook, GitHub online version control, Google Earth Engine, and GeoPandas.

In the workshop week, we continued on those materials in detail and had a hands-on project. The final project was set up in a way that each person in each group, took part in their own personal interest and ability. There was no peer pressure of being obliged to do something for the sake of not just being left behind. Even the title of the projects was chosen by each group which made us start collaboration and negotiation from a smaller society.

The major interesting point for me was that the instructors were ranged from professors to students. In addition, the workshop had various types of participants, from undergrads to faculty members. Therefore, I thought I could also be an instructor if I have anything special to contribute.

Apart from that, the diverse milieu of the workshop in both terms of culture and science, and the welcoming nature of Seattle let me have this notion that organizers are not only proficient in technology, but also experts in social sciences. To my mind, Waterhackweek 2019 was an amalgamation of innovation, expression, learning, friendship, and joy, and I would be delighted to be part of this community once again.

Zhen Han
Zhen Han, Big Water Consultants

Zhen Han, Data Reporting and Analytics Manager, Big Water Consultants

I had a wonderful time at the Waterhackweek. Within five days, I was able to pick up a lot of new data science techniques and directly apply those skills through hands-on project work. The instructors and organizations clearly put a lot of thoughts on the structure of the events to strike a balance between learning sections and project time.

Although there are a lot of contents to learn and practice within a short period of time, the learning environment during the hack week was extremely friendly and low-stress. I appreciate that at the onset of the event, all participants were reminded to get prepared to feel a little bit at loss, stay open-hearted to seek help and help each out, and appreciate the diversity of the participants.

The weekly one-hour cyber-seminars were great lead-ins for the hack week. It was great that we could get an overview of the contents and start to implement the tools before the event started. The learning sessions during the week were also well-structured and greatly expanded my horizon on tools and techniques for data science and water research.

More importantly, it was great to get exposure to a variety of projects and work in a diverse team on a hands-on project. My teammates came from consulting firms, academia, government, and non-government organizations. Everyone brought their own experience into the discussion and problem-solving process. I felt extremely grateful for the opportunity to learn from our team leads and my teammates.

Katya Cherukumilli
Katya Cherukumilli, University of Washington

Katya Cherukumilli, postdoctoral researcher, University of Washington

I am a postdoctoral researcher in Environmental Engineering at the UW and the founder and CEO of a nonprofit called Global Water Labs. My research focus is on the design and deployment of low-cost technologies for drinking water treatment in resource-constrained regions. My expertise is in analytical aquatic chemistry, material characterization, groundwater geochemistry, field-relevant technology design, and social entrepreneurship.

I do not have formal training in data science or programming but was recently introduced to Python and R/ggplot. So when I first heard the announcement for proposing projects for Waterhackweek (WHW), I was a bit hesitant because I thought that I did not think I had the adequate data science skillset to participate. However, having completed my first WHW experience, I am so happy that I did. I would recommend the experience to anyone who has a general interest in learning more about how data science skills can be applied to their research.

I had the privilege of leading a team of data scientists to work towards a common goal: to build a “map app” that visualized multiple groundwater contaminants, with the added user-friendly features of observing trends over time and space (including depth). This experience gave me a brief insight into the vast power of numerous tools and software packages, including Hydroshare, GitHub, Tethys, Google Earth Engine, and GeoPandas. It also taught me about the concepts of workflow, database wrangling/cleaning, and version control. These concepts, although quite rudimentary to experienced data scientists, were novel to an experimentalist like me.

Learning these concepts taught me how to do very interdisciplinary and highly productive collaborative research in a short period of time. Overall, through this experience, I was introduced to a unique and powerful network of data scientists passionate about water issues. I was also encouraged (and supported) to push my own intellectual boundaries and to learn new methods that will greatly contribute to my future research and humanitarian work.