UF Water Institute

People

Carl S. Swisher Chair in Water Resources
Phone: (352) 294-7741
wgraham@ufl.edu
http://www.abe.ufl.edu/graham

Wendy D. Graham is the Carl S. Swisher Eminent Scholar in Water Resources and Director of the University of Florida Water Institute. She graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Engineering. Her PhD is in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She conducts research in the areas of coupled hydrologic-water quality-ecosystem modeling; water resources evaluation and remediation; evaluation of impacts of agricultural production on surface and groundwater quality; and development of hydrologic indicators of ecosystem status. As Director she is responsible for establishing, conducting and evaluating research, education and outreach programs conducted under the auspices of the University of Florida Water Institute.

Phone: (352) 294-7745
r.derooij@ufl.edu

Rob earned his Doctor of Science degree at the Centre of Hydrogeology, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) in 2007. His research activities were developing a finite element code for coupled, variably saturated flows, solving problems related to non-linearity, numerical instability and flow coupling, validation and verification.

His research at the Water Institute includes the development of a particle-tracking scheme tailored for coupled surface-subsurface flows as well as a finite difference scheme for coupling conduit flow, subsurface matrix flow and surface flow in karst systems. The objective of these schemes is to gain further insights into complex natural flow systems.

At this moment his research is focused on developing and testing methods to generate random 2-D and 3-D conduit networks for incorporation into watershed scale flow and transport models, and develop and test coupled discrete-continuum flow and transport models for the Silver Springs basin in Florida.

Phone: (352) 294-7744
palomacgl@ufl.edu

Paloma holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences and a Doctor’s degree in Geography, all earned at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She is also a UF Natural Resources Leadership Institute (NRLI) program alumnus.

For over fifteen years she has coordinated interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, and international teams conducting research and developing policies in diverse topics of natural resource management and environmental change. Her professional experience spans academia, the public sector, and non-governmental organizations, both in the US and Mexico.

Paloma applies her interdisciplinary training, professional experience and facilitation skills to support the Water Institute research, extension, outreach and education programs. Her experience working in Latin America and fluency in Spanish and French equip her well to further the Institute’s mission in an international context.

Phone: (352) 294-7742
lstaal@ufl.edu

Lisette earned a Master’s degree in Geography from Ohio University (1984) and Undergraduate degrees in both Education and Geography at the University of Maryland, College Park (1978).

Before joining the UF Water Institute in April, 2007, she worked for over 20 years in international development with a focus on participatory development, farming systems, gender analysis and community issues and spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa.

Lisette now combines her expertise in adult education, facilitation, and applied social sciences to enhance program development, interdisciplinary research and education initiatives, and collaborative learning processes in UF Water Institute projects and initiatives.

Phone: (352) 294-7747
megarvin@ufl.edu

Mary has worked at UF for over 15 years, joining the Water Institute in August, 2007. She acts as office manager and office accountant as well as website/database developer.