The North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute has announced its Graduate Research Fellowship recipients for 2020-2021. The fellowships, ranging from $1,000 to $14,614, were awarded to 19 graduate students, including 14 doctoral and five master’s degree students.

The students will conduct water resources research at NDSU and the University of North Dakota. Fellows, their academic programs, university, faculty advisers and research projects are:

• Alicia Schlarb, biological sciences, NDSU, Matthew Smith, “The ecotoxicological effects of saline water characteristics on amphibian survival and development”

• Berkay Koyuncu, civil and environmental engineering, NDSU, Trung Bao Le, “Flood and Bathymetry Alteration Simulations Under Ice-Coverage in Red River”

• Christine Cornish, environmental and conservation sciences/biological sciences, NDSU, Jon Sweetman, “Does wetland restoration affect the accumulation of glyphosate?”

• Justin Waraniak, biological sciences/environmental and conservation sciences, NDSU, Craig Stockwell, “Assessment of agricultural impact on biotic components of North Dakota wetland resources using habitat suitability landscape genomics of amphibians”

• Karthik Boregowda, civil engineering, UND, Yeo Howe Lim, “Rejuvenation of Urban Streams in Cold Climate Regions Using Hydroponic Systems: A Case Study on English Coulee in Grand Forks, North Dakota”

• Kristen Almen, agricultural and biosystems engineering/environmental and conservation sciences, NDSU, Xinhua Jia, “Impact of Subsurface Drainage and Subirrigation on Water Quality in Richland County, North Dakota”

• Kui Hu, environmental and conservation sciences/biological sciences, NDSU, Jon Sweetman, “Understanding intra-lake seasonal and spatial variability in shallow prairie lake diatom communities: implications for paleolimnological studies”

• Lan Zeng, civil and environmental engineering, NDSU, Xuefeng Chu, “Development of a new depression-oriented watershed hydrologic model and its application in North Dakota”

• Pavankumar Challa Sasi, civil engineering, UND, Feng “Frank” Xiao, “Effectively and Practically Remove Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances from Landfill Leachate and Groundwater”

• Rebecca Jones-Bradley, biological sciences, NDSU, Matthew Smith, “Influence of habitat characteristics on amphibian stress and reproductive success in North Dakota”

• Stevie Holmes, geology and geological engineering, UND, Taufique Mahmood, “Hydrological Changes Due to Recent Wetting in a Cold Region Riverine Headwaters Environment “

• Swetha Mallula, civil engineering, UND, Feng “Frank” Xiao, “Soil Amendment for Reducing the Runoff of Nutrients from Agricultural Lands”

• Tong Lin, agricultural and biosystems engineering/environmental and conservation sciences, NDSU, Zhulu Lin, “Using Coupled Human and Natural Systems for Water Resources Management in the Bakken Region of Western North Dakota”

• Tonoy K Das, civil and environmental engineering/environmental and conservation science, NDSU, Achintya Bezbaruah, “Fabrication of Point of Use Treatment Systems for Aqueous Arsenic and their Evaluation”

• Uday Bhanu Prakash Vaddevolu, agricultural and biosystems engineering, NDSU, Xinhua Jia, “Automatic sensor-controlled drip irrigation under mulches for tomato and watermelon productions”

• Umesh Acharya, soil science, NDSU, Aaron Daigh, “Soil moisture mapping using Landsat data in a frigid glaciolacustrine landscape with agricultural production”

• Vida Atashi, civil engineering, UND, Yeo Howe Lim, “Hydraulic and hydrologic routing parameters in natural channels in North Dakota under spring snowmelt conditions”

• Zachary Bartsch, soil science, NDSU, Thomas DeSutter, “Imprinting and hydromulch for soil erosion reduction and plant establishment in semi-arid soils disturbed from oil and gas development”

• Zachary Ranisate, civil engineering, UND, Feng “Frank” Xiao, “Red Lake River and Red River Raw Water Quality Investigation”

A panel of state water resource professionals reviewed the applications and selected the fellows and award amounts. The proposals were prepared by the students with the guidance of their advisers. The general criteria used for proposal evaluation include scientific merit, originality of research, research related to the state water resources issues and extent of state or local collaboration or co-funding.

Funding for the fellowship program comes primarily from the annual 104(B) base grant provided to the institute by the U.S. Geological Survey and an additional support of approximately 27 percent of the annual base grant comes from the North Dakota State Water Commission. The North Dakota institute is one of 54 institutes, each located in a land-grant institution of each state and territory under the umbrella organization of National Institutes for Water Resources.