Princeton to host world’s largest conference for water modeling, resource management June 5-8
Some of the world’s top water experts will join nearly 200 researchers, academics, practitioners, regulators and students from around the globe at Princeton University to discuss how we can better predict and manage the nation’s increasingly stressed water supply in a warmer, drier world.
The MODFLOW and More conference slated for June 5-8 is the world’s largest conference for applied hydrologic modeling. The 2022 conference — hosted by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) and Princeton’s Integrated GroundWater Modeling Center (IGWMC) — will focus on “Hydrologic Modeling in a Changing World.” The theme reflects the changes in the challenges facing freshwater resources, as well as the rapid advancement of the models and approaches scientists and resource managers are using to ensure water security in the future.
Reed Maxwell, director of the IGWMC and professor of civil and environmental engineering and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, said that Princeton’s hosting of the conference builds on the University’s legacy as a center of research focused on hydrology and groundwater security. The University staged the first International Conference on Finite Elements in Water Resources in 1976 and, as the birthplace of the field of ecohydrology, continues through faculty and research based in HMEI to lead in the areas of water modeling and the study of anthropogenic and climate-based stressors on water availability.
“Our rapidly changing planet will have profound implications for freshwater resources. Rising sea levels will result in saltwater leaching into coastal aquifers, lessening the amount of water we have. Droughts in the western United States are already significantly reducing the water supply,” Maxwell said.
“Hydrologic models are one of our most important tools for understanding and predicting these changes and developing real strategies for effectively and efficiently managing water resources,” he said. “This conference is a platform to advance our ability to simulate Earth’s freshwater and serves as a nexus for researchers, practitioners and policymakers to collaborate on solutions to critical issues we’re already facing. This is an opportunity for Princeton and HMEI to have an integral role in advancing our collective understanding of what the future of water will be on this planet.”
The conference will consist of more than 120 talks and poster presentations on the latest research in hydrologic modeling. Presenters will focus on leading topics in hydrology, such as modeling coastal aquifers under sea-level rise; the impact of climate on water resources; the use of groundwater for food and agriculture; the impact of mining on groundwater quality and availability; understanding large-scale water quality; real-time hydrologic forecasting; wildfires and water; and methods for advancing our integrated hydrologic models, including for groundwater and surface water. A software demonstration will exhibit more than a dozen of the leading modeling platforms.
The conference program is available online.
The conference will feature keynote addresses by three renowned hydrologists. The speakers and topics are listed below.
- John Cherry, the Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo and recipient of the 2020 Stockholm Water Prize, will cover the underutilization of hydrologic models.
- Newshaw Ajami, the chief development officer for research for the Berkeley Lab Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA), will discuss ways that data-driven approaches can help understand water use under climate stressors.
- Abe Springer, professor of ecohydrogeology at Northern Arizona University and the Geologogical Society of America’s 2022 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, will explore the interlinked nature of land management and water.
The first MODFLOW and More conference was held in 1998. The conference at Princeton will be the 11th in the series. Princeton faculty, researchers and students interested in attending should contact Tara Kelly, project coordinator in the IGWMC.