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SENR alumni weather changing rivers

March 1, 2023
Four photos of rivers

SENR alumni weather changing rivers

School of Environment and Natural Resources alumni will share their expertise with environmental professionals and students at the March 7 Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) breakfast.  

Changing Rivers: Enhancing the natural and social wellbeing of Ohio alongside more floods and warmer temperatures will explore stormwater management and regional extreme rainfall events and connect these changes to empirical research on the biotic diversity in Ohio’s stream and rivers, and the socio-economic health of human communities. 

The alumni will join other experts from The Ohio State University, the City of Toledo, U.S. Geological Survey, the City of Columbus – Department of Public Utilities, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Water Management Association of Ohio, and Franklin County Soil and Water to discuss: 

1) leading strategies to monitor stormwater and precipitation flashes in waterbodies; 2) stormwater engineering tools and the use of green infrastructure and policy/communication strategies to prevent flooding in vulnerable homes and neighborhoods; and 3) using aquatic biota to express overall stream and river conditions and as a measure of Clean Water Act management program effectiveness with a focus on stormwater. 

"Multi-faceted professionals and collaborations are needed on the ground in Ohio to measure and evaluate changes to human and non-human communities experiencing warming, flashier river and stream systems," said Joe Campbell, director of EPN. "These collaborations need to be conducted or in step with advances in machine-learning and modeling for increasingly unpredictable climate scenarios. This EPN program offers an opportunity to get many of Ohio's practitioners from these various areas into the same room, and will illuminate ways in which SENR faculty and students can directly add value into these pathways and informing policies to enhance quality of life in local communities."

Alumni who will share their expertise include: 

Pictures of four SENR Alumni on March 7 EPN Program.

  • Kari Mackenbach, CFM, vice president of strategic pursuits water, ms consultants inc. 

  • Alicia Silverio, CFM, program manager, Floodplain Management Program, Ohio Department of Natural Resources 

  • Chris Yoder, research director, Midwest Biodiversity Institute 

  • Jennifer Fish, director, Franklin County Soil and Water Conservation District 

The collaborative program, an annual event in coordination with the Water Management Association of Ohio (WMAO) and TerrAqua (a cross-disciplinary student organization at Ohio State and WMAO affiliate) and the Ohio Stormwater Association, Ohio State’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, the Ohio Water Resources Center, and Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed.  

Learn more about the EPN Breakfast (in-person and via EPN's YouTube channel) and two-hour extended session (in-person only) on stormwater management and rainfall events on specific community planning resources and aquatic biodiversity events. 


The Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) is a service of the School of Environment and Natural Resources that connects and grows environmental professionals in-person and online.  


Contributor: Molly Bean and Duane Gandelot

Contact:
Callia Téllez 
tellez.13@osu.edu

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