Authors: Emad Habib – University of Lafayette, Courtney Di Vittorio – Wake Forest University, Dave Tarboton – Utah State University, Melissa Ghallagher – University of Houston, Cat Maiorca – Oklahoma State, Irene Garousi – CUAHSI
Title: Supporting CIROH Workforce Development Needs with HydroLearn
Abstract: While CIROH projects are addressing the urgent need to build resilience to climate change and our aging infrastructure by advancing water forecasting models and tools, we must integrate these advances into higher education to develop the next generation of water resources managers. Faculty often lack the capacity to learn about CIROH’s evolving needs and develop new and relevant learning materials, creating a content gap between what students learn through their coursework and the skills desired by operational forecasters. This content gap is exacerbated by the fact that professors rarely acquire the knowledge and skills needed to develop high-quality curricular materials through their academic training. HydroLearn aims to address these gaps by creating CIROH-relevant online educational content while simultaneously building the capacity of water resources engineering and hydrology faculty. We have brought 24 HydroLearn faculty fellows to this meeting so they can learn about the latest CIROH research projects and integrate relevant concepts, models, and tools into 12 new online modules that will be created during our 2-week hackathon, directly following this meeting. All are welcome to attend the introductory HydroLearn workshop on Thursday (May 30th) at 1:30 PM to learn more about the platform and its high-quality learning materials, meet the fellows, and help inform the scope of these new modules.