2002 Dissertation Award Recipients

 

The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) selected the 2002 dissertation Award winners.  Ari Michelsen , President, presented the awards along with a check for $750 to the recipients at the Awards Banquet, Thursday, July 25 at the Top of the Park, Park Place Hotel in Traverse City , Michigan .  The awards were given to the best dissertation in each of two areas - Natural Science and Engineering and Water Policy and Socio-Economics.  

Natural Science and Engineering:

Mark Borsuk received a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University , an M.S. in Statistics and Decision Sciences from Duke University , and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University .  His Ph.D. dissertation was supervised by Dr. Kenneth Reckhow and was titled, “A Graphical Probability Network Model To Support Water Quality Decision Making For The Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina .”  Consistent with his dissertation work, Mark’s long-term research objective is to explore ways of making science more effective in guiding environmental policy decisions.  This includes developing methods for: 1) predicting the effect of human actions on the environment, 2) estimating and communicating the uncertainty in predictions, and 3) combining scientific predictions with societal values to make better decisions. 

Mark is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG) in Dübendorf , Switzerland , where, when not working on his research, he enjoys hiking and skiing in the Alps and eating Swiss chocolate.

Water Policy and Socio-Economics:

Shira Yoffe is a 2002-03 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow and will be working in the State Department's Office of Global Change.  She is an author of 8 articles on various aspects of trans-boundary water resources.  She received her Ph.D. in geography from Oregon State University in 2002.  Her dissertation was titled “Basins At Risk: Conflict and Cooperation Over International Freshwater Resources.”  She has a Masters in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University , and a Bachelors in history from the University of Massachusetts , where she graduated summa cum laude.  Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Shira worked as a research scientist in the Emerging Technologies group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  Currently, Shira serves as project manager of the Trans-boundary Freshwater Dispute Database - an electronic compendium of international freshwater treaties, case studies, and water event and GIS data concerning international water conflict and conflict resolution, at Oregon State University .