Sharon B. Megdal, Kacey Ernst and Christopher A. Scott are also members of the ALRS Executive Committee

April 7, 2017

These 3 faculty members have recently been in the news:

Sharon Megdal, director of the Water Resources Research Center and professor, regularly works in conjunction with Jordanian officials on the water crisis in Jordan and Israel. She was part of the discussion panel that was held after the partial screening of “Voice in the Valley” last March 20, 2017 at the Haury Building.  She presented the Red Dead Project.  The other members of the panel include:

  • Ramzi Touchan, research professor of dendrochronology, will present his research on the drought in Jordan and compare it to a case study in the Mediterranean.

  • Gökçe Günel, assistant professor in MENAS who studies the anthropology of energy and climate change, will comment on the film and lead the discussion.

Sharon Megdal also holds the titles: Professor and Specialist, Department Soil, Water, and Environmental Science; C.W. & Modene Neely Endowed Professor; and Distinguished Outreach Professor. She serves as Director of the University of Arizona Water, Environmental and Energy Solutions Program, which is funded by the University of Arizona Technology Research and Initiative Fund (TRIF).

From: UA News https://uanews.arizona.edu/calendar/89186-film-and-talk-water-issues-jordan-valley-and-beyond

Kacey Ernst, associate professor of epidemiology in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has been selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for a public engagement fellowship. She and 14 other researchers in the field of infectious diseases will attend the Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute for Public Engagement with Science in June. Her primary research interests have been on questions surrounding the emergence of Aedes mosquito-borne viruses like dengue and Zika in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Read this UANews article(link is external) for more about Ernst and her work on Zika.

From:  https://uaatwork.arizona.edu/lqp/awards-and-accolades-73

Last year, Kacey Ernst also spoke before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, in Washington, D.C., on the growing concern over a potential Zika virus epidemic.See; UA News: https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-researcher-kacey-ernst-maps-potential-risk-areas-zika

Christopher A. Scott

The Udall Center recently announced the appointment of Christopher Scott as its new Director.  Dr. Scott has been a faculty member at the Center since 2006, with an active externally-funded grant program and policy engagement that address water security, the food-energy-water nexus, and broader goals of societal and ecological resilience. At the UA he has garnered more than $13 million in research support from domestic and international sponsors. His published work consists of over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and research reports, 11 edited books, and over 100 chapters and other publications.

As Director, Dr. Scott aims to expand the Center work into new research and policy domains, while also consolidating and enhancing collaboration between the Center’s two main programs – the Native Nations Institute and the Environmental Policy Programs. He will continue as a jointly-appointed, tenured Professor in the UA School of Geography & Development, and as Director of the Consortium for Arizona-Mexico Arid Environments and Professor of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences – both in the UA College of Science.

From:  http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/news/articles/christopher-scott-new-udall-center-director