UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Water Council has announced the agenda for the 2021 Water Forum, which will take place virtually on the afternoons of Wednesday, March 24, and Thursday, March 25. The forum is an opportunity for the Penn State water community to come together to hear from outside speakers and get updates on and contribute to key Penn State water initiatives.
The event is free and open to the Penn State community. Registration is required.
Day one of the forum will take place on Zoom. Day two of the forum will take place on Gather Town. Attendees only need to register through the Zoom portal to be registered for both platforms.
Andrew Warner, the director of Penn State’s Water Initiative, said the purpose of the forum is to offer external perspectives across diverse water-related challenges; foster community; energize interdisciplinary exchange and provide updates on key Penn State Water initiatives.
“We are looking for participants to bring their interests but expect conversations to span research, education, outreach, partnering, resources and funding across diverse topics,” Warner said. “This includes water and health, water and resilient urban systems, water-energy-food nexus, flood risk and climate resilience, water governance, ethics, social justice and ecosystem health and services.”
Warner said the forum is designed to be interactive and engaging and encourage conversation.
“The challenges of droughts, floods and degraded water quality are expanding with the demands of a growing global population,” Warner said. “These challenges are being exacerbated by climate change, food and energy demands, aging infrastructure and long-stagnant modes of governance.”
Day one will feature a series of outside speakers from across sectors bringing perspective on diverse water-related challenges across scales from local to global. These will be run as panel discussions, each with time for question and answer.
Day two will include Penn State Water Initiative updates, sessions for open discussion and networking, and feature the Student Water Exposition, which is open to all Penn State undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs. The exposition, which is part of the 2021 Water Forum, is designed to offer students the opportunity to share their work and contribute to the conversation with a large, diverse audience spanning the breadth of water-related activities across Penn State campuses.
“We strongly encourage creators from all disciplines, including natural and social sciences, engineering, policy and law, visual and performing arts, humanities, communications, and others,” said Warner.
The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on March 22.
Questions about the forum or the student expo can be sent to Warner at atw11@psu.edu or any Water Council member.