Summer Research Activities

In the first half of summer this year, I got the chance to visit eight research centers associated with CSU around Colorado and learn about the avant-garde research going on there. I was amazed by the passion and knowledge base of all the research scientists and stakeholders I met on all the field trips. They explained what goes into the daily functioning of research centers; and community outreach programs. That instilled in me the passion for contributing to the people who depend on our research.

I took the above two pictures a few days apart; one at the luscious ARDEC research center in the foothills of Front Range and the other at Plainsman Research Center in the arid Walsh, located near the Eastern border of Colorado. Despite being a headwaters state supplying water to much of the Western United States, the geography of Colorado is so vast and diverse that I witnessed many types of climates, even drought, in a few weeks.?

As a student researcher of water resources, my favorite part of the program was learning about the intricacies and nuances of the Water rights laws like Prior Appropriation adapted to use in Colorado and the dependency of court cases, treaties, and policies on it. It's interesting to see the states and even different counties in the same state competing to secure water for their municipal or agricultural uses.

Visiting the ever-so-beautiful Western Slopes and the orchards bursting with production at this time of the year was a bonus. Lastly, I would like to thank President Joyce McConnell for encouraging us, the HOD of College of Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Amy Charkowski, and my advisor Prof. Dr. Ryan Bailey for introducing me to this program and everyone I met during this program.?