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IHE-FAU Annual International Water Professionals Program Goes Virtual
Each spring, FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies hosts the annual IHE-FAU Water Professionals Program, engaging graduate students from nations worldwide. This program normally brings students from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education to South Florida for a specialized education in solving water challenges.

This year, CES was able to develop the program’s first-ever virtual program. The September program combined on-demand lectures and virtual field trips with live interactive workshops, and question and answer sessions with the scientist lecturers.

CES worked closely with our partners at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) & South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to prerecord their lectures and to have them participate in the live, engaging activities and question and answer sessions.

The scientists' presentations focused on the Everglades and other significant restoration projects as case studies. The focus was on modeling, policy, implementation, challenges and opportunities. While the program was virtual this year limiting the hands-on experience, it provided an opportunity to showcase the partnership between FAU and federal and state agencies as a model for worldwide efforts through a practical approach.

This year’s IHE-FAU class of 23 students showed their gratitude for our efforts by creating this delightful thank you video
Take a Virtual Field Trip to LILA
Do you know LILA? LILA isn’t a person – it’s a place. Located at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, LILA, which stands for Loxhatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment, is a LIving LAboratory for Everglades restoration. Learn more about LILA through this virtual field trip.

This video was created as a field trip for the virtual 2020 IHE-FAU Water Professionals Program. It was developed by FAU’s CES in partnership with the USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Sciences Program.
CES Hosts the SFWMD and Army Corps of Engineers VIP’s
on the Restored Kissimmee River
The restored Kissimmee River (left), Lawrence Glenn discussing the restoration with Major General Graham (middle) and the final section of the Kissimmee’s C-38 canal that is being backfilled to restore the historic river’s flow (right)
On Sept 1st, CES hosted a VIP tour of the Kissimmee River and Restoration for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) leaders. The VIP’s flew in by helicopter for their boat tour of the restored Kissimmee River. Our Riverwoods team of Loisa Kerwin, Mark Compeau and Alex Dyson lead the flotilla of 3 boats that hosted the SFWMD’s Executive Director, Drew Bartlett, Assistant Executive Director, John Mitnik and USACE’s Major General Graham from DC, Colonel Kelley from Jacksonville and 10 others. The SFWMD’s Lawrence Glenn, Director of the Water Resources Division and expert on the Kissimmee River Restoration, led the discussion on the progress of the restoration that is scheduled for completion in spring 2021!    
 
Introducing Cameron, Nick & Haoluan
CES welcomes three new members to our research team:
Cameron Peters is focusing on multimedia production and digital storytelling projects with CES to promote innovative science communication and connect research with new audiences. Her current CES projects include producing a new documentary podcast series on the science of climate resilience; designing the community-based photo workshop, “Our Story: Documenting Community Resilience as the Climate Changes;” and helping to produce an educational video series on Everglades restoration. She graduated from Kenyon College summa cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 2020 with a BA in English and a minor in Studio Art. www.cameronjudithpeters.com/ 
Nicholas Milligan is a graduate student in his third semester of FAU’s Master of Science in Geosciences Program. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geography from FAU in Fall 2019. He also earned the Geographic Information Systems certificate and the Advanced Geographic Information Systems certificate while an undergraduate. He is 24 years old, was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and he moved to Delray Beach, Florida in October 2015.
Haoluan Wang is a Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is broadly interested in agri-environmental policies, water and resource economics, and environmental valuation. Outside of school, he enjoys camping and hiking along the east coast and dog sitting his roommate's puppy Otis! https://haoluanwang.com/

Both Nicholas and Haoluan will be conducting environmental social science research, including GIS analysis, with the NSF CUNY CNH-L research project, “Multi-Scale Coupled Natural-Human System Dynamics of Nitrogen in Residential Landscapes” and the EPA-NY Sea Grant LISS research project, “Eliciting and Modeling Residential Lawn and Landscape Practices: Systematic information to assess knowledge, explicate behavior and inform management across the Long Island Sound Watershed."
FAU's I-SENSE Develops System
to Help Predict Flooding
Researchers from FAU’s Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering (I-SENSE) and FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, in collaboration with Coastal Carolina University’s Burroughs and Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, are developing a warning system for more accurate and timely detection and forecasting of inland and coastal floods under a variety of precipitation regimes. This warning system consists of micro-drifters that are deployed in groups to measure the surface water dynamics of tropical storms. Read more about this system of micro-drifters here.
In addition to this project, FAU’s I-SENSE is the lead technology provider for the South East Atlantic Econet, a large regional network of weather monitoring stations, also managed in cooperation with Coastal Carolina University. The volumes of data collected are used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) weather modeling systems to increase the accuracy of its weather forecasting systems along the Atlantic coast. For a summary of this project, view a video overview here.
It's King Tide Season Again
King Tide season has arrived in South Florida. "King Tide" refers to unusually high tides resulting from the combined tidal bulges, due to the moon and the sun.

The City of Hallandale Beach recently released a public service announcement video to educate the public regarding these annual tides. This video features Alyssa Jones-Wood, a previous CES graduate researcher that now works as the City of Hallandale Beach’s Green Initiatives Coordinator. Watch the video below to learn more about King Tide Season and the City of Hallandale Beach's efforts to manage these high tides.
What Climate Change Means to Me
Join an interactive, fact-based, student-led webinar about sea-level rise and climate change on Sunday, October 18th at 7 p.m., hosted by the Sea Level Rise Solution Project of South Florida. Hear from local leaders and scientists how you can advocate for climate resilience in your community. Students can earn up to two service hours for their participation. Register for the event or email sealevelrisesolutions@gmail.com to learn how to earn student service hours. View the event flyer here.
Learn More About King Tide
To learn more about King Tide, visit our website: ces.fau.edu/outreach/king-tide.php