Education and Outreach

CIROH hosts its annual Science Meeting in Fall, at The University of Alabama. The Science Meeting aims to review and advance the research agenda for CIROH and strengthen the translation of research into practice.

CIROH hosts its annual Developers Conference in late Spring. The conference aims to develop a community of practice around CIROH’s research and development activities. The conference will be in-person only.

The Water Prediction Innovators Program is a seven-week experiential learning program that brings graduate students together with academic researchers, other professionals, and CUAHSI staff. Since the first Summer Institute in 2015, more than 180 students have participated in the program, which continues to play an important role in advancing the National Water Model and water prediction in the United States.

The USGS FLOW (Future Leaders in Observation of Water) Academy is a seven-week immersive, research challenge-based learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students related to water observing sensors, platforms, and system technologies with a special focus on water hazard impacts on water quantity and quality. Participants will have the opportunity to both work hands-on with a variety of water observing and sensing technologies as well as engage in professional development to enhance their knowledge and skills for future careers in water. The program culminates in a FLOW Symposium capstone experience. 

CIROH hosts the HydroLearn workshops every summer. HydroLearn is an education project funded by the National Science Foundation to promote the collaborative development and adoption of active-learning resources in hydrology and water resources engineering. CIROH’s HydroLearn workshops are open to anyone wanting to learn how to develop learning modules on research to operations in hydrology related topics. There is a multi-session workshop scheduled during the CIROH Developers Conference and a virtual workshop scheduled for early June.

CIROH sponsors an annual Visiting Scholars Program that brings the world’s top hydrologists and water forecasting researchers to The University of Alabama to interact with scientists and practitioners at the National Water Center in Tuscaloosa. The goals of CIROH’s Visiting Scholars Program are to address a short-term research or education objective of interest to CIROH and the scholar, increase collaboration across the CIROH consortium, build relationships between the world’s leading water researchers and scientists and practitioners at the National Water Center, and enhance research to operations and operations to research translation.

CIROH hosts a monthly webinar where consortium members meet virtually to listen to operations professionals to help keep CIROH aligned on its mission of research to operations and actionable water intelligence. Recordings of these webinars are hosted on CIROH’s YouTube channel.

CIROH seeks undergraduate students to assist in machine learning and process-based modeling for water predictions, addressing big data challenges, and understanding climate change’s impact on water systems. CIROH is also developing cyber infrastructure, open-source tools, and data visualizations for policy support.