Faculty in the Spotlight<--Back


Christopher Martinez, Assistant Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Chris Martinez (Agricultural and biological Engineering Department), recently received NSF funding as a key partner in The South Florida Water, Sustainability and Climate Project. The integrated project is focused on increasing the resilience of water supplies to climate variability, climate change, and salt water intrusion caused by sea level rise. In particular, researchers are seeking to understand what modifications to the south Florida water management system will increase the resilience of water supplies. “Future water demand is critical to sustainable water resources,” Martinez says. He will be assisting in parameterization of agricultural water demand, evaluating future demand scenarios, and developing estimates of unregulated flows in support of the hydro-economic modeling efforts for this project. Martinez notes that the work they are doing is important to other low-lying coastal regions whose options for managing public water resources are limited, and will provide an innovative, pragmatic approach to optimizing the social-ecological benefits of water resources allocated between the built and natural environments.

Read more about this project and Dr. Martinez at the UF Water Institute website.