Developing our future workforce and building capabilities

Eleven new students receive DWFI funding in 2023-2024 academic year

In the 2023-24 academic year, DWFI funded 11 new University of Nebraska students and their research related to water and food security, each under the guidance of DWFI Faculty Fellows. This brings the total number of supported students during the 2023-2024 academic year to 31. DWFI supported students participate in a fall welcome event and share their research at the annual Water for Food Student Research Forum held in the spring each year.

New micro-course using publicly available data on agriculture and water

As part of its mission to develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities of the next generation of water and food leaders, DWFI offered a new micro-course on spatial data handling and map creation using the “R” programming language to University of Nebraska faculty, students and staff in Summer 2024.

DWFI supports World Food Prize Eastern Nebraska Youth Institute

DWFI, the Nebraska Water Center and the Water Sciences Lab also supported the World Food Prize Eastern Nebraska Youth Institute on March 25, 2024 by hosting a tour of the lab for students participating in the program. Along with touring the lab, the students tested various types of water to learn about different contaminants and factors of water quality.

Mentoring agtech startups focused on water management in smallholder farming

DWFI provides training and mentorship beyond the bounds of the University of Nebraska. One example is the institute’s recent partnership with The/Nudge Institute DCM Shriram AgWater Challenge, which encourages feasible irrigation solution ideas for smallholders in India. The AgWater Challenge is a year-long competition that builds a cohort of 15 agtech startups and an ecosystem of actors and organizations focused on water management in agriculture for smallholder farmers. In December 2023, Ankit Chandra, DWFI research program manager, and Nick Brozović, DWFI director of policy, led an online masterclass on water accounting for agtech startups participating in the challenge. In June 2024, Chandra and Brozović traveled to India to facilitate a full-day workshop with relevant field trips for participants.

Know Your Well continues to expand, testing more private wells

The Know Your Well program is a collaborative citizen science program training high school students how to sample and test private well water quality. Students collect water samples, test them in the classroom, and compare their results with tests conducted at the University of Nebraska Water Sciences Laboratory, part of the Nebraska Water Center and DWFI. The program began in 2017 with a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and to date has involved hundreds of students and teachers from over 30 schools across Nebraska who have sampled more than 300 wells.

In 2023, Know Your Well received more than $14,000 from USGS to expand the program leadership beyond UNL to additional undergraduate institutions. In FY2024, Know Your Well also received nearly $100,000 in environmental education funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop classroom curriculum to help teachers become part of the growing Know Your Well network in high schools.

In the next two years, Know Your Well plans to recruit at least 50 schools and test over 1,000 private wells through shared leadership among partners across the state, including Nebraska Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) working with schools in their area. By recruiting more NRD staff to participate, and thus recruiting more schools who will use the curriculum, Know Your Well is growing the network statewide and providing a sustainable program involving multiple organizations and stakeholders.

Sussan Moussavi looks at the barriers and benefits of reusing treated municipal wastewater for agricultural irrigation purposes in Nebraska

Ally Barry shares their experience as an intern at Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute

Zoe Zingler shares learnings from internship experience at Nebraska Water Center’s Water Sciences Laboratory

Finding solutions for PFAS: How researchers at Nebraska are helping fight ‘forever chemicals’