The WATERS Collaborative
Watershed Academics To Enhance Regional Sustainability (WATERS) engages people from all backgrounds and disciplines in finding solutions to water challenges in the Russian River Watershed. Our goal is to create a trained and local workforce of SSU graduates with knowledge and expertise in local water challenges in the Russian River watershed. Lead funder for the WATERS Collaborative is:
Whether faculty, student, community or donor, we invite you to join.
How We Work
WATERS is a partnership between Sonoma Water and CEI established in 2012. Sonoma Water provides funding and identifies water challenges of interest in the watershed. CEI mobilizes academic resources to address identified issues and integrates water challenges into the curriculum through project funding, scoping and logistics, sharing results, and post-project assessments. To see examples of WATERS projects, go to our Search Projects page and enter "water".
Faculty and Student Inquiry
- Faculty-Student Grants: CEI makes $9,000 available each year to support water-related student inquiry through a competitive CEI Grants program. Grants range from $200 - $2,000 and are made available to faculty in all disciplines.
- Research Distribution: CEI co-hosts the end of year SSU Research and Creative Inquiry Symposium for faculty and students presentations, and judges the Best Water Poster award in collaboration with community partners. All water-related student projects results and data are archived in the Search Projects database.
Curriculum and Course Support
- Existing Courses: CEI supports faculty to integrate water inquiry into course curriculum. We help identify water-related projects within any discipline, scale projects to fit course curriculum and academic structures, connect faculty to community partners and guest lecturers. Funding is available for class projects through the CEI Grants program.
- New Courses: CEI funds three courses related to water inquiry: plant propagation, water research, and land & water use planning integration
- Student Assessments: CEI's online Student Reflection & Assessment survey is available to all faculty to enhance student learning learning outcomes
Water Jobs & Internships
- Water Projects: CEI plans and supervises annual efforts to restore the SSU campus's reach of Copeland Creek. Each spring semester, we hire and supervise four students who get hands-on experience in riparian restoration techniques.
- Water and Land Use Planning Internship: CEI coordinates a shared intern position between Sonoma Water and Permit Sonoma. The position enhances integration of activities between the two county agencies and broadens student understanding of the complexity of issues. Interested students should contact us.
Community Partnerships
WATERS helps mobilize faculty and students to work on projects. We can help you:
- Find an Academic: Identify faculty, staff and students with expertise needed to address your water-related question (see link for list of past faculty and staff)
- Structure a Project: Figure out the best fit for your project. Options include a class project, internship, faculty-student research team, capstone project, or Master's thesis. Complex projects may require cross disciplinary or multi-year study.
- Project Results: CEI co-hosts the end of year SSU Research and Creative Inquiry Symposium for faculty and students presentations, and judges the Best Water Poster award in collaboration with community partners. All water-related student projects results and data are archived in the Search Projects database.