47th Annual Meeting and Conference
You are invited to attend the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA). The meeting will be held at the Hilton Paper Valley hotel in Appleton, on April 25 & 26, 2024. This later date is a break from tradition, but we hope the timing will improve attendance by avoiding spring breaks and competing conferences. We are planning plenary, oral and poster sessions, plus lightning talks (see below), addressing both surface water and groundwater issues in Wisconsin. A preliminary program and registration materials will be available in February 2024.
Call for Papers - Abstracts due December 22, 2023
We are soliciting posters and presentations for sessions on hydrogeology, watershed management, hydrology, limnology, aquatic toxicology, water chemistry, aquatic ecology and water use, particularly work in or relevant to Wisconsin water resources. Please specify your preference for oral or poster presentation or lightning talk when you submit your abstract. Oral presentation lengths will be based on the number of abstracts received but we are targeting 20-minute time slots, including 5 minutes for questions.
The deadline for abstracts is Dec. 22, 2023. Abstracts should be limited to 1,500 characters including spaces and submitted at the link below. Contact Anna Fehling or Nic Buer if you have questions.
The deadline for abstracts is Dec. 22, 2023. Abstracts should be limited to 1,500 characters including spaces and submitted at the link below. Contact Anna Fehling or Nic Buer if you have questions.
Key Documents
Chaired Sessions
This year, our members are invited to organize chaired sessions. If you have a session in mind or would like more details, contact Anna Fehling or Nic Buer for more information. Examples of past sessions:
- Climate Change and Water Resources Management
- Web-based Dashboards and Decision Support Systems for Water Resources
- Socio-Political Dimensions of Water Resources
- Environmental Justice—A Water Resources Perspective
Lightning Talks
We encourage attendees to submit lightning talks. Lightning talks provide a brief, focused and informal medium for sharing ideas, and are limited to 5 slides and a strict 5-minute length. Lightning talk abstracts are limited to 5 sentences. Lightning talks may be submitted in addition to regular presentations, but we ask that the topic be different. If you have questions, contact Anna Fehling or Nic Buer.
Student Awards
The AWRA Annual Meeting is designed to create a student-friendly atmosphere. Students are strongly encouraged to present and discuss Wisconsin-related research in all aspects of water science and policy. To encourage excellence in student oral and poster presentations, up to four awards of $200 will be offered. If you are a graduate or undergraduate student and would like to be considered for an award, please indicate your interest on the abstract submission form. Students submitting abstracts for poster presentations to be considered for an award will be asked to provide a PDF of their posters one week in advance of the conference for preliminary judging.
Distinguished Service Awards
Here’s your chance to recognize the outstanding contributions of AWRA members! This honor is presented at the annual meeting to an individual or group affiliated with the section who has made exceptional contributions in protecting and enhancing Wisconsin’s water resources. Include in your nomination a narrative describing the nominee’s contributions and contact information for both yourself and the nominee. Nominations should be sent to Aaron Pruitt at wisconsinawra@gmail.com by Dec. 22, 2023. For more information, contact Aaron or visit the AWRA website.
Officer Elections
Section elections for President Elect, Vice President, Secretary, and Director-at-Large will be held at the business meeting (during lunch at the conference). If you are interested in serving in one of these positions, contact Megan Haserodt by Dec. 22, 2023.
Donations
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to WI-AWRA. Donations may be made by individuals or organizations and are directly used to fund either student awards, the student career luncheon, or student registration costs.
Strategic Planning Wrap-Up
After a year of work, we are excited to announce that the board of directors has approved our first strategic plan. This plan is designed to be flexible to our membership needs, while providing a roadmap of near-term and long-range planning goals. We have developed a mission and vision to guide the organization, and we documented our values to ensure we hold true to what we all love about the organization. The plan identified three main strategies:
We invite you to review the strategic plan executive summary here. We are planning to present our findings, implementation goals, and engage in an open discussion about this strategic plan with membership at the annual meeting.
- Build organization capacity to make leadership more inviting and sustainable for a broader range of people and to allow the organization to do more. We plan to restructure leadership, streamline operations, and assess resources needs and opportunities to allow the organization to thrive and grow more effectively.
- Broaden backgrounds and experiences across our organization, leadership and conference to strengthen the organization, enrich the science and support an inclusive and equitable profession and community. We will strive to continue to expand the water resource professional organizations and sectors we market our annual conference to. And we will work to grow diversity, equity and inclusion with a focus on welcoming people from historically underrepresented and marginalized communities.
- Focus on improving Wisconsin AWRA’s offerings. The annual meeting is the organization’s primary event, and members are enthusiastic about maintaining the opportunity to connect and share our science with each other. At the same time, members are enthusiastic about expanding those opportunities to connect, either through tweaks to the annual meeting or through events or services beyond it. We will look for opportunities to strengthen our connection through and beyond our flagship event.
We invite you to review the strategic plan executive summary here. We are planning to present our findings, implementation goals, and engage in an open discussion about this strategic plan with membership at the annual meeting.