University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign UIUC

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
An introduction prepared for Middle East Water
and Livelihoods Initiative
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Summary of UIUC Strengths

• Research
• UIUC is one of the world leaders in hydrology,
  plant biology, landscape and watershed
  management, and environmental economics, as well
  as being one of the top research universities in
  the U.S.
• Land grant university with one of the largest and
  most comprehensive agricultural colleges in the
  U.S., playing a central leadership role in
  disciplines related to agriculture, food,
  environment, consumers, and human and community
  interests
• UIUC has active interdisciplinary centers,
  housing projects on land and water management
• UIUC has a history of long-term international
  collaboration, particularly with CGIAR centers. A
  number of faculty members have worked or
  collaborated with these centers. These
  collaborations continue today, with a number of
  ongoing land and water management projects active
  in the Middle East.

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Summary of UIUC Strengths

• Education
• UIUC has the largest international student
  populations of all U.S. universities, with
  ongoing educational enhancement projects in
  Middle East
• UIUC has an active international exchange program
  (involved in USAID Middle East students exchange
  program)
• Online campus initiative and remote-teaching
  technologies

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Summary of UIUC Strengths

• Administrative Facilities
• International Programs and Studies (IPS) hosts
  the Center for Global Studies, Institutional and
  Faculty International Collaboration, Scholarships
  for International Study, International Student
  and Scholar Services and Program for Middle
  Eastern Studies
• International support from interdisciplinary land
  and water management centers at the campus
• Numerous contacts in the Middle East

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UIUC work in the region

• Capacity building projects
• Egypt 5 agricultural universities the Ministry
  of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
• Jordan Faculty of Agriculture, University of
  Jordan
• West Bank Gaza Ministry of Agriculture and
  Palestine Water Authority, local universities in
  WB and Gaza
• Pakistan, NWFP, Agricultural University
• Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Water
  Resources
• Afghanistan, Ministry of Agriculture and
  university two faculty
• Visitors/students who work on water management
  and related issues from Egypt, Iran, Syria,
  Palestine, Turkey
• Conferences and workshops in Egypt, India on
  linking farmers to markets
• Campus groups, such as Engineers without Border,
  involved in this region

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UIUC Team

• John Braden, Environmental and water resources
  economics and policy
• Nick Brozovic, Environmental and water resources
  economics and policy
• Ximing Cai, River basin (watershed) management,
  irrigation, climate change
• Mike Hirsch, water quality management, erosion
  and sediment, watershed restoration
• Benito Marinas, Wastewater treatment, drinking
  water supply
• Greg McIsaac, Soil water quality, nutrient
  management soil fertility, conservation biology
  ecosystem health
• David Kovacic, Watershed management, ecosystem
  restoration, landscape planning
• Harry Onal, Agricultural economics and water
  resource economics
• Praveen Kumar, Hydroclimatology, geomorphology
  and hydrologic information systems
• Mosbah Kushad, Plant Biology, plant products,
  food crop systems
• Burt Swanson, Rural development, capacity
  building and agricultural extension
• Murugesu Sivapalan, Hydrologic predictions in
  ungauged basins
• Albert Valocchi, Groundwater, sub-surface flow,
  aquifer remediation
• James Wescoat, Environmental planning and design,
  international water development
• Daniel Warnock, ornamental horticulture, plant
  biology, pest management

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Academic Departments and Divisions Agricultural
and Biological Engineering Agricultural and
Consumer Economics Animal Sciences Crop
Sciences Food Science and Human Nutrition Human
and Community Development Natural Resources and
Environmental Sciences Division of Nutritional
Sciences
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UIUC Water and Land Management Centers and
Programs
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The Center of Advanced Materials for the
Purification of Water with Systems (WaterCAMPWS)

• Research
• Desalination and Reuse
• Thermal Desalination and Concentrate Management
• Pressure-Driven and Active Membranes
• Membrane Bioreator Technology
• Decontamination
• Disinfection

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NASA Seasonal to Interannual Prediction Project
(NSIPP, Global)
NSIPP improvements
Climate forcing data
CWRF Regional Downscaling Climate Prediction
Climate forecast
Common Land Model (CLM) and Volume Averaged
Subsurface Transport (VAST) Assimilation of
Real-Time RS Data for Hydrologic Prediction
(U.S. with nested Midwest)
Credibility credibility of NSIPP/RCM/ CLM-VAST
predictive capability
Soil moisture and streamflow forecast
Other inputs including RS data
DM-DSS
Other inputs including RS data
Improvement credibility of DM-DSS
Drought indices and evaluation
Decision Analysis Models with Testing Watersheds
(End Users) Agricultural Nebraska watershed
Urban Northeastern Illinois watershed
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County Level
State level
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Other Water and Land Management Centers and
Programs

• Center for Water As a Complex Environmental
  System An inter-disciplinary program that
  facilitates original, interdisciplinary research
  on the complexity of water and water-related
  processes in environmental systems. The Center
  also examines the interconnections between these
  processes and human society and provides a
  structure for the scholarship involving water at
  the University through research, teaching and
  outreach.

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UIUC Water and Land Management Centers and
Programs

• Institute for Sustainability of Intensively
  Managed Landscapes A newly established institute
  created to address the sustainability of both our
  environmental landscape and our societal and
  economic landscape infrastructure for use in
  decision making, policy analysis and education.
• NCSA - Advanced Information Systems Theme for
  Environmental Sustainability An
  interdisciplinary center that develops intensive
  sensing and informatics test beds for watersheds
  and end-to-end infrastructure needed for
  predicting land and water management
  consequences. The center is sponsored by National
  Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at
  UIUC, a national unique feature in informatics.