IGC Fellows Talk Human-Water Systems & More with GCC Faculty Landon Marston

How much water is pumped from wells each year in the United States?

How will these trends change over the coming years?

What are the environmental implications of satisfying our unquenchable thirst for water?

During a recent meeting between IGC Fellows and GCC faculty affiliate Dr. Landon Marston, graduate students learned more about Dr. Marston’s efforts to grapple with these and these and other complex, data-intensive question. Amir Mortazavigazar and Caleb O’Brien, both IGC Fellows, met with Dr. Marston, Assistant Professor in Virginia Tech’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, as part of the IGC’s recurring “CoffeeConvos,” which offer opportunities for graduate students to meet with GCC faculty in an informal setting.

During a wide-ranging conversation in the Deet’s Place, Virginia Tech’s newly renovated premier coffee shop, Marston, Mortazavigazar, and O’Brien discussed their respective areas of research, the nuts-and-bolts of running a successful lab, and the challenges of starting new programs and careers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amir and Caleb both had coffee. Dr. Marston, perhaps fittingly for a scholar who studies environmental and water resources engineering, stuck with H2O.

If you are a GCC Faculty member and interested in participating in an upcoming IGCoffee Convo, please contact IGC GSO Professional Development Committee Chairs, Caleb O’Brien and Jennifer Brousseau. Fellows should keep an eye on their email inboxes for opportunities to join in on future IGCoffee Convo meetings!

Contributed by Caleb O'Brien, IGC Fellow and PhD Student in the department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation.