2015 Meeting Highlights

3/7/2015

39th Annual Meeting: Wisconsin Water Resources and Agriculture

Meeting Information
March 5 - 6, 2015 at the Olympia Resort: Hotel, Spa and Conference Center, 21350 Royale Mile Rd, Oconomowoc, WI 53066

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Meeting Highlights
The 39th annual meeting of the American Water Resources Association-Wisconsin Section was held March 5 - 6, 2015 at the Olympia Resort and Conference Center, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. There were 230 registrants who attended the meeting which included 57 oral presentations and 37 posters. The meeting theme was "Wisconsin Water Resources and Agriculture".

In support of this theme the Plenary Session included: Tom Cox from UW-Madison, Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics speaking on Economic/Environmental Optimization in the Wisconsin Dairy Sector; Dennis Roehrborn from Roehrborn Farms, LLC. speaking on the Evolution of Farming Practices Over a Quarter Century; and Bill Schaumberg from Tilth Agronomy Group speaking on A Private Agronomist's Perspective on Phosphorous, Agricultural Land Management, and Water Quality. We had excellent technical sessions on Agricultural and Water Quality, Groundwater Modeling, Surface Water Quality, Central Sands, Surface Water and Habitat, Agriculture and Groundwater, Managing Water Resources, Urban Water Quality, Wetlands, and Water Quality. The Dinner Speaker was Ryan Schone from UW-Extension, Milwaukee County who gave a wonderful presentation on Milwaukee's Local Food Environment: Capacity Built and Lessons Learned. Poster Session included a mixture of interesting topics presented by undergraduate and graduate students, regulatory and industry professionals, and academic colleagues.

Lunch business meeting (pictured above).

Tom Cox from the Dept. of Agriculture and Applied Economics, UW-Madison speaking on Economic/Environmental Optimization in the Wisconsin Dairy Sector (pictured above).

Dennis Roehrborn from Roehrborn Farms, LLC speaking on Evolution of Farming Practices Over a Quarter Century (pictured above).

Bill Schaumberg from Tilth Agronomy Group speaking on a Private Argonomist's Perspective on Phosphorus, Argicultural Land Management and Water Quality (pictured above).

AWRA President Andrew Aslesen kicking off dinner (pictured above).

Ryan Schone from UW Extension Milwaukee speaking on Milwaukee's Local Food Environment (pictured above).

After dinner poster session (pictured above).

Distinguished Service Award
This year we were proud to present the Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Ken Potter of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This award recognizes his years of exemplary service on behalf of the section, research colleagues, students, and the international community of hydrologists. Dr. Potter has advanced the field of water resources science and management and played an influential role mentoring hydrologists and water resource managers. He has demonstrated a strong commitment to the study of local and regional water resources issues through the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies' Water Resources Management Program and Practicum. He is highly respected throughout the region and nation for providing innovative solutions for communities and invaluable place-based experiences for students. He has advised dozens of PhD and Masters Student's and many undergraduate students on research projects and has published 4 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Potter, thank you for your service, and congratulations!

Ken Potter receives the Distinguished Service Award from Andrew Aslesen, AWRA President (pictured above).

Student Presentation Awards
The section was pleased to award four Outstanding Student Presentations this year. Award winners included: Adam Bechle for Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation, Yan Zhu for Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation, Bree Bender for Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation and Christa Kananen for Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation.