As the impacts of climate change persist and intensify, an understanding of our water resources is vital not only for current scientists, but for everyone ‒ including future hydrologists. Through a collaborative partnership between Princeton’s Integrated GroundWater Modeling Center (IGWMC), directed by Professor Reed Maxwell (CEE, HMEI), and the Watershed Institute (thewatershed.org), a week-long educational camp focused on water and climate was delivered to New Jersey high school students. Led by Education and Outreach Specialist Dr. Lisa Gallagher and Prof. Maxwell, the IGWMC took a trip to the Watershed Institute in Pennington, NJ, where high school students engaging in the Water and Climate Academy were enthusiastic and ready to learn. Undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, and researchers worked collaboratively to develop relevant and engaging content for the week that covered topics including the water cycle, hydrological modeling, machine learning, coastal hydrology, and scientific communication. Here are some takeaways from three summer interns at the IGWMC:

My name is Ashley DeFrates, and I am a rising junior in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Princeton. My contributions to the week included lessons about the water balance equation and hydrologic modeling techniques ‒ concepts important to quantifying our water availability in a changing climate. Teaching at the Watershed Institute was an incredibly rewarding experience that left me feeling hopeful for the future of hydrology and water management. I was continually impressed by the students’ constant enthusiasm and thoughtful questions about hydrological concepts, and found my own understanding of these topics deepening alongside theirs. Overall, it was a great reminder that scientific education is not only important, but fun!

My name is Jasmine Pinchinat, I am a rising senior at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). I received the opportunity to visit Princeton as an UMES intern through the Princeton Alliance for Collaborative Research and Innovation (PACRI). During the week, I taught lessons about phytoplankton blooms and how they are causing increased harm to marine environments, humans, and other animals. This is a direct result of many factors, including climate change. My takeaway from the week was that the future is bright. The students were so engaged and on top of the issues they were presented with. They were equally good at understanding and relaying the content that they learned throughout the week in their own ways. It was utterly amazing to see, and I am thankful for this opportunity and will carry many of the things I learned through this experience in my future work as a marine biologist.

My name is Jamie Kim, a rising senior at Princeton University pursuing a concentration in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a certificate in Applications in Computing. For the Watershed Academy, I contributed to setting up a machine learning card game to teach the students how machine learning works on a fundamental level and how data quantity and quality affect predictions. Overall, this week was not only an amazing learning experience for the students, but also for me. It was super interesting to learn how different parts of the water cycle are all connected and affect one another and to see it from a big picture perspective. The week was honestly really fun and it was nice to see younger students become engaged with and excited about topics related to the research that our team did over the summer! The students’ enthusiasm left me feeling more confident about our future!