USU Department Head Receives National Water Resources Award
Professor Christopher Lant, head of USU's Department of Environment and Society, is a 2015 recipient of the Friends of Universities Council on Water Resources Award.
Utah State University professor Christopher Lant, head of USU’s Department of Environment and Society, is a 2015 recipient of the Friends of Universities Council on Water Resources Award. Lant, along with two other recipients, will be recognized at a ceremony during the council’s annual conference June 16-18 in Las Vegas.
“Chris is very deserving of the Friends of UCOWR Award for 2015,” says Chris Luecke, dean of USU’s Quinney College of Natural Resources. “He has spent his entire career working to improve the environment through his interests and expertise in geography, water policy and ecosystem services. We are proud he is continuing his work on water resources and environmental policy at Utah State.”
Lant, who joined USU in August 2014, served as UCOWR’s executive director from 2002 to 2014, while a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The council, which includes more than 60 universities, along with water resources agencies, foundations and professional organizations among its membership, aims to advance water resources education and research.
Under Lant’s leadership, the council renamed its central publication, Journal of Contemporary Water Research, while improving its quality, instituting web-based dissemination in addition to print and increasing its circulation.
In addition, the council increased its membership, while welcoming its first Mexican and Canadian university members. During Lant’s tenure, the council also doubled its assets, despite the Great Recession, and hosted successful annual meetings at sites throughout the United States.
At USU, Lant’s research efforts focus on water resources and watershed management, ecological-economic modeling of watersheds, natural resource systems, ecosystem services and wind energy.
“All water issues are local,” he says, “I’m interested in how society makes decisions to generate the services it needs, given the environment it has to work with.”
According to the council’s website, recipients of the Friends of UCOWR Award are recognized for “substantial contributions in time and effort toward the goals of UCOWR.”
In addition to Lant, 2015 award recipients are James Dobrowolski, National Program Leader for Water in the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Pat Mulroy, former general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and senior fellow for Climate Adaptation and Environmental Policy at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Boyd School of Law.
Related links:
USU Department of Environment and Society
USU Quinney College of Natural Resources
Contact: Christopher Lant, 435-797-4169, chris.lant@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
Lant, whose research focuses on water resources and watershed management, served as UCOWR's executive director from 2002 to 2014. The council includes universities and agencies from throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada among its membership.
TOPICS
Awards 709storiesComments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page.
