DWFI welcomes new round of student support recipients

Since it was initiated in 2014, the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute’s student support program has made more than 80 awards to DWFI Faculty Fellows supporting postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students on all four University of Nebraska campuses and invested $2.7 million, of which $2.1 million has been matched one-to-one by faculty. The awards provide stipends to students working on projects that contribute to the institute’s mission to have a lasting impact on achieving more food security with less pressure on scarce water resources.

Congratulations to the newest round of student support grantees who will begin their work in Fall 2021:

Gonzalo Rizzo Ayphassorho, for a Ph.D. in Agronomy, Minor in Statistics
Project: Has irrigated corn in Nebraska reached a yield plateau? 
Advisor: Patricio Grassini, Associate Professor, UNL Agronomy & Horticulture

Jordan Shields, for a Ph.D. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Project: Modeling Nitrate Contamination in Northeastern Nebraska  
Advisor: Erin Haacker, Assistant Professor, UNL Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Arshdeep Singh, for a Ph.D. in Agronomy
Project: Optimizing Nitrogen and Water Inputs for Corn Based on Nitrate Leaching 
Advisor: Javed Iqbal, Assistant Professor, UNL Agronomy & Horticulture

Heydi Calderon, for a Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering
Project: An integrated framework to account for temporal, spatial, and climate variability in the Corn-Water-Ethanol-Beef (CWEB) nexus system 
Advisor: Deepak Keshwani, Associate Professor, UNL Biological Systems Engineering

Qu Wen, for a Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering
Project: Mitigating the Risk of Manure-Borne Antibiotic Resistance to Surface Water 
Advisor: Xu Li, Professor, Professor, UNL Civil and Environmental Engineering

Deepak Shimire, for a Ph.D. in Agronomy
Project: Optimizing Nitrogen Management in Furrow-Irrigated Corn Field to Increase Grain Yield and Ensure Groundwater Quality
Advisor: Bijesh Maharjan, Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist, UNL Agronomy & Horticulture

Sanat Bhandari, Ph.D. Computer Science and Engineering
Project: Incorporating machine learning methods in economic analysis of water use in agriculture 
Advisor: Taro Mieno, Assistant Professor, UNL Agricultural Economics

Dominic Cristiano, M.S., SNR
Project: Assessing risk and risk perception of tick-borne disease along a climate-induced transition zone in Nebraska 
Advisor: Larkin Powell, Professor, UNL School of Natural Resources

Matthew Chaffee M.S., SNR
Project: Integrated Crop Nutrient Management (ICNM) to Support Crop-Human-Environment Well-Being
Advisor: Amy Schmidt, Associate Professor, UNL Biological Systems Engineering

Mercy Kipenda, M.S., SNR
Project: Remotely sensed early warning of toxic algal blooms in Nebraska lakes
Advisor: Daniel Uden, Assistant Professor, UNL School of Natural Resources and Agronomy & Horticulture, Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes

Hubbard Fellowship:

Justin Caniglia, Ph.D., SNR
Project: Comparing human and veterinary antibiotics in Nebraska streams
Advisor: Steven Thomas, Associate Professor, UNL School of Natural Resources

Student to be announced
Project: A comprehensive framework to assess flood risk within the context of public health
Advisor: Tirthankar Roy, Assistant Professor, UNL Civil and Environmental Engineering

See all the student support grantees