Start here to learn about WATER@IU.

WATER@IU is the one site you’ll need to tap into all of the schools, departments, research initiatives, and programs that can turn your interests in water into a degree and your degree into a water-related career. We’ve done the work for you and brought all the information into one place; find what you’re looking for about water-related research, faculty, degree programs and student opportunities.

Water@IU is part of The Integrated Program in the Environment at Indiana University.

20+Degree Programs  

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15+ Faculty Focused on Water

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20+Active Grants in Support of Water Research

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Student Opportunities

Learn about the exciting research, programs, and other opportunitites our students are undertaking in this dynamic and exciting field!

Elena Solohin (second from left), a PhD student in Dr. Chris Craft’s lab, tapes up the top of a 1-meter-long sediment core collected in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh on the Altamaha River in Georgia. Elena’s thesis work's goal is to determine how changes in sediment supply influence sediment accretion rates in coastal wetlands and to project future wetland vulnerability along the East Coast under various scenarios of sea level rise and sediment supply.
Melinda Miller is an MPA-MSES graduate student whose work as a graduate research assistant involves extracellular enzymatic activity. Extracellular enzymes are released by microorganisms in stream sediments to help break down organic matter. Melinda performs data analyses to find relationships between enzyme activity in sediment samples collected from a headwater stream network in Oregon and other environmental data. She hopes to determine if the enzyme activity varies systematically through a stream network, or if it is primarily influenced through local environmental conditions.
Molly Cain’s research investigates how human alteration to landscapes for agricultural purposes alters hydrologic connectivity between streams and their floodplains, and how these changes in connectivity affect the transport of water and solutes through the environment. Much of her work is conducted in the agricultural Midwestern U.S and uses a combination of field experimentation and numerical modeling. Molly’s research has been supported by the Critical Zone Observatory Program, an IU Sustainability Research Development Grant, and a Fulbright Fellowship in Water Management.
Koong Yi, a PhD student in the Novick lab, studies interactions between key eastern US tree species and our climate system, with a particular focus on understanding how drought affects tree function, and the implication of these impacts for carbon uptake and storage in Eastern US forests. His work has revealed that trees growing in Eastern US forests adopt remarkably different strategies for contending with drought stress which is important as forest management practices and climate change are driving a gradual decline in oak species in Eastern forests, which are being replaced by more drought-sensitive species like maples. 
PhD student Lienne Sethna works with Dr. Todd Royer and his lab on the Indiana Water Initiative and other projects studying the stoichiometry of N:P:Si with regards to changes in hydrology and land cover. As climate change increasingly affects our natural environment, it is important to react with sustainable policies to maintain our water ecosystems. Lienne is interested in understanding how agricultural runoff affects nutrient cycling in water ecosystems. She hopes that her studies will contribute to the development of sustainable environmental policies and land management practices.