UCOWR’s Latest Journal Features Work of IWR Economists and Scientists

ALEXANDRIA, VA – October 6, 2008. The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) has published the latest issue of its Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education (JCWRE). The issue’s title is “Complexity and Uncertainty in Water Resources Management.” The articles in the September 2008 issue discuss topics such as risk analysis, working with uncertainty in the modeling process, and communicating uncertainty pertaining to climate change.

The authors featured in this issue are drawn from a range of institutions and organizations, including universities and private consulting firms. Many USACE scientists and economists also contributed their knowledge and expertise to the studies in the September 2008 issue.

IWR’s Darryl Davis, former Director of the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC), and Beth A. Faber contributed to the article “USACE Experience in Implementing Risk Analysis for Flood Damage Reduction Projects.” Their study summarizes the impetus for USACE adopting a risk analysis framework for flood-risk-reduction projects and its recent applications.

The article “Incorporating Complexity and Uncertainty in Planning Models for Engineering: Economic Analysis within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” features the work of IWR Chief Economist David A. Moser; Mark B. Gravens, USACE Engineer Research and Development Center; Keith D. Hofseth, IWR and Technical Director of the Navigation Economic Technologies (NETS) program; and NETS Researchers Richard M. Males, RMM Technical Services, Inc., and Cory M. Rogers, CDM. This article combines the authors’ experiences in modeling and economics.

Dr. Stacy Langsdale, IWR Visiting Scholar, wrote “Communication of Climate Change Uncertainty to Stakeholders Using the Scenario Approach.” This study presents the scenario approach as a means to overcoming the challenges of communicating uncertainty to stakeholders. As the National Research Council Research Associate for 2007-2008, she is working on “A Critical Analysis of Modeling Tools and Stakeholder-Based Decision Support Processes for Application in Water Resources Planning and Management.”

More About UCOWR

The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) consists of over 90 member universities and organizations. UCOWR’s goals include facilitating water-related education; promoting research and technology transfer on water resources issues; and sharing information about water issues and solutions among members and with the public. UCOWR publishes the Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education and presents annual awards for scholarly achievement in fields related to water resources.

More About the UCOWR Water Resources Fellowship

UCOWR and IWR created the UCOWR Water Resources Fellowship in 2003 to support research of water resources issues that are relevant to the Civil Works mission. This fellowship brings university professors to IWR to participate in research projects and disseminate their findings through publications and conferences. Appropriate research topics include integrated water resources management; water supply and allocation issues; water resources investment decisions; and infrastructure and economic development. Through this fellowship, UCOWR and IWR work together to foster advancements in water resources technology, policy and management.

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