French-American Science Symposium. Developing Partnerships for Sustainable Water Management and Agriculture in the context of Climate and Global Change

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A Joint U.S. / French Symposium on Sustainable Water Management and Agriculture0968578This award to Purdue University (PU) will support a two-day workshop to promote scientific and educational exchange between U.S. and French scientists in the key strategic research areas of water resources management, water quality, global climate change, and agricultural research. The meeting is intended for attendees from French and U.S. institutions, including universities, research labs, industry and policy-makers from public and private sectors. The award will support the participation of up to 50 U.S. faculty and 20 U.S. students in the workshop. The workshop is organized by Global Engineering Program at PU and the scientific attaché of the French Consulate in Chicago. The NSF funding leverages support for the symposium from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and numerous French research institutions such as the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, and the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement.Global climate change and the related effects on water quantity and quality extremes impact the daily lives of millions of individuals and societies around the world. This is also the case in the United States and in France, where warning signs for the need of sustainable water management and food security tools and policies are surfacing. The symposium will develop new Franco-American partnerships for sustainable water management in agriculture that will lay the groundwork for improved research, education and development opportunities to address: (1) water resource management under water shortage/extremes; (2) impact of human activities on agricultural water quality and water quality impact of agricultural activities; (3) drinking water quality; (3) climate changes related issues and impact on ground water; (4) multi-scale water and land-use modeling and uncertainties; (5) integration of physical, sociological, social sciences to policy; (6) innovation in education; and (7) the enhancement of interaction and synergies between industries and academic institutions. These challenges are not unique to the partner countries. They go beyond their borders to impact food security, biodiversity and indigenous species, flood control, the interface of human activity (industry, agriculture, urbanization) and eco-systems, tools for accurate prediction and measurement of soil-climate-crop system interactions, and the education of globally competent scientist and engineers. This award is jointly supported by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering and the Hydrological Sciences Program.