Water Quality and Data Science: Bringing the Experts Together Across Disciplines

On May 21, 2024, CSE DSI sponsored a workshop focused on water quality and data science. Experts from academia, industry, and government met for the day on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus with the goal of identifying opportunities and challenges towards integrating sensors/sensing, data science, and water treatment technology to improve water resources management.

This workshop grew out of the CSE DSI Water Quality + Data Science group that had been meeting for well over a year, building an interdisciplinary community of researchers with a wide variety of research specialties that involve water and water quality. The connections made between the members of this group have allowed the group to build teams with the expertise to develop several major grant proposals.

The workshop sessions included Sensors and Sensor Development, Emerging Technologies for Water Treatment, Data-Enabled Environmental Monitoring, Modeling, and Management, and a panel discussion featuring representatives from the nonprofit world, industry, and local government agencies. 

Melissa Pierce, the Technical Program Director at Current, spoke on Turning Waste into Wealth. Current is a Chicago nonprofit that is leading Great Lakes ReNEW, one of the inaugural Regional Innovation Engines awarded this year by the National Science Foundation. Several CSE DSI affiliates are part of this project.

Other speakers included Brian Chaplin (University of Illinois Chicago), Nancy Love (University of Michigan), Bridget Ulrich (Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth), and Shyan Boriah, a UMN alumnus (PhD computer science 2010) who is currently Vice President, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Product Solutions at Xylem. Joining them were CSE DSI affiliates Tian Cui, Ardeshir Ebtehaj, Jeff Strock, other U of M faculty, and experts from local and national government agencies. Complete information about the workshop is available at the workshop website.

Many thanks to the workshop organizers: Tian Cui (ME), Vuk Mandic (Physics, Associate Director of CSE DSI), Paige Novak (CEGE), Jeff Peterson (Water Resources Center), Cara Santelli (EES), and Jeff Strock (Soil, Water and Climate and Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton).