We are excited to announce that our new Director of the Auburn University Water Resources Center (WRC) is Dr. Eve Brantley! We encourage folks to leave words of encouragement in the comments on this post 🙂 Read on to learn more about Dr. Brantley and why she will make a great director!
Many of our volunteers may already be aware that Alabama Water Watch is a program of the WRC with the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, the AU College of Agriculture, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES). As the WRC Director, Dr. Brantley will provide leadership in accomplishing the goals of the Center by facilitating collaboration among AU faculty and staff and other Alabama and national institutions on multi-disciplinary water-related research, extension, outreach, and teaching; and through overseeing the AWW Program.
Under the leadership of Dr. Brantley, the WRC and AWW staff will work to strengthen links between research and Extension, and encourage participation of our volunteers and citizen scientists in research initiatives.
Dr. Brantley’s work as a Professor with the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences in the AU College of Agriculture and position as the Extension Water Resources Specialist for ACES have well prepared her to take on the role of WRC Director.
It surely helps that she is no stranger to the work of AWW and our volunteers! Many of our Water Watchers are already familiar with Dr. Brantley, as she served as a Volunteer Trainer with AWW from 1998 through 2003 and has incorporated AWW Volunteer Monitors and groups in many of her projects with ACES. Most recently, her team led the Alabama Watershed Stewards program that many AWW Volunteers participated in.
Dr. Brantley also traveled with the Global Water Watch team to the Philippines in the early 2000s. Here she is with cute little Tarsiers!
We are looking forward to working with Dr. Brantley and her team to advance the initiatives of the WRC and to continue to strengthen and improve the AWW Program.
Read on below for a brief Q&A to get to know Dr. Brantley a little better!
Where are you originally from?
I’m from Stone Mountain, Georgia.
What has prepared you for the role of the Water Resources Center Director?
I’ve had the opportunity to work at the watershed, coastal, state and regional levels with any partners to promote and demonstrate watershed practices that improve water quality and educate stakeholders. My hope is these partnerships and experiences will strengthen existing programs in research, education and Extension and build new connections in water resources.
What makes you most excited about the work of the WRC?
Integrating research, Extension, and education with a common goal of continued better understanding of science based recommendations to protect, improve, and restore waters in Alabama.
What is one “big idea” you have for the next year or two of the WRC?
Sharing widely the work of Auburn researchers, educators, and Extension professionals to foster new collaborations at AU and around the state, region, nation, and world.
What is your favorite aquatic critter?
It’s a tie between the juvenile hellgrammite and mayfly.
What is your favorite Alabama waterway?
Each ecoregion is so beautiful and unique. Not sure I could even pick one per region! I love waterfalls in the Sipsey, headwater Piedmont streams, the blackwater rivers in south Alabama, and Grady ponds. I like urban streams that have potential and the expansive Tensaw Delta. We’re fortunate to work in Alabama’s watersays.
Welcome to the team, Dr. Brantley!