CARC Water Team members Ripendra Awal, Haimanote Bayabil, Almoutaz El-Hassan, Ram Ray, and Ali Fares actively participated in the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus Workshop on Integrated Science, Engineering, and Policy: A Multi Stakeholder Dialogue held in College Station, Texas, January 26-27 2017.
One of the objectives of the workshop was to build the roadmap that lays the foundation for the creation of an inclusive FEW Nexus Community. Program Directors from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) who funded this workshop were present in addition to members of TAMU and TAMUS leadership.
The Water Team members contributed substantially to the organization of this event, discussion in the breakout sessions, and other activities across the workshop. These members made contact with NSF and NIFA’s program leaders and participants from national laboratories, United Nation’s organizations, and major universities. Fares led the discussion on the development of the ten White Papers that will be part of the final FEW Nexus plan.
In addition to the 119 participants who were present at the meeting, over 100 other participants joined the meeting via the internet. The Water Team members were invited to collaborate with other scientists on future research proposals dealing with different aspects of the FEW Nexus.
Ali Fares, Ph.D.
Interim Associate Director, Cooperative Agricultural Research Center
alfares@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-5019