The U of M Water Network

Minnesota is truly the State of Water.  

Owing to Minnesota's three major iconic rivers and watersheds (Mississippi, Red, and Great Lakes), thousands of smaller lakes, shoreline along Earth's largest lake, and other valuable water resources, the hearts and souls of the people of Minnesota are defined by water.  Water supports Minnesota's life and economy and inspires our artistic expressions. 

Correspondingly, water scholarship at the University of Minnesota is big, diverse, and widely distributed. As a recent inventory shows, water scholarship can be found throughout the University, with at least twelve departments or centers across the University housing ten or more water researchers. Almost two hundred water-related courses are taught at the University. Hundreds of University of Minnesota water researchers have published thousands of scholarly papers, and University scholars frequently lend their expertise to the broader community at large when it is needed. Future water leaders are trained in its graduate programs. The University's extension and outreach programs bring state of the art water scholarship to large audiences. 

This institutional breadth and diversity also creates internal challenges.  With such far flung, interdisciplinary scholarship, means to connect individuals to each other are sorely needed. This U of M Water Network was formed to help improve communication across the widespread water scholarship community at the University and to encourage more and deeper interdisciplinary collaboration within it. The Networks was developed by, and is maintained by, the University of Minnesota's Water Council, which serves as a system-wide coordination and communicating body. Assistance from the Digital Arts, Sciences & Humanities program in creating this set of web tools is gratefully acknowledged. 

We invite anyone at the University of Minnesota, no matter their role or affiliation, who has an interest in teaching, research, or outreach pertaining to water to join The U of M Water Network.  Parties outside of the University are welcome to use this portal to learn more about the University and to engage with us in activities such as our Water Circles. 

To provide feedback of any kind about the UMN Water Network, send an email to watercouncil@umn.edu.

Sincerely,

The University of Minnesota Water Council