History and Goals

Genesis of the IWW

In 2005, Oregon State University established the Institute for Water and Watersheds as the hub for water-related teaching and research activities at the University. The vision for the IWW was developed by a team of faculty in response to an internal OSU competition to fund six interdisciplinary research and education initiatives. The competition was a component of the University's Stategic Plan -- the University would build strengths in emerging interdisciplinary fields by funding six targeted initiatives. In January 2005, the winning proposals were announced with the Water and Watersheds Initiative among them.

OSU is ideally positioned to assume a leadership role in addressing water problems. There are 125+ faculty in six colleges who teach and conduct research in areas related to water and watersheds and bring in over $11M/year in extramural funding. OSU is renowned for its landscape-scale ecosystems research and has five graduate degree programs in Water Resources. These research and education efforts have all occurred without the benefit of programmatic coordination or strategic vision. The IWW is designed to fill that gap.

IWW Goals

The IWW seeks to leverage OSU’s existing excellence in water and watersheds by:

1. providing coordination of water and watershed activities at OSU,
2. creating an innovative, place-based educational approach connecting a diverse student body with relevant issues across the state,
3. enabling capture of new, high-value opportunities for research, education, and outreach,
4. engaging OSU faculty and students with external stakeholders throughout the state, and
5. establishing a set of shared water and watershed collaboratories supporting research, teaching and outreach.

The IWW will help grow external funding, increase the diversity and quality of OSU students involved in water resource activities, and advance OSU’s Strategic Plan and Land Grant mission.