For Students

The SCWRC Paul A. Conrads Student Poster Competition

Over 1,700 people have attended the past seven conferences, and there have been several dozen people who have attended every one. One of those persons was Paul Conrads, a surface-water specialist with U.S. Geological Survey. Paul not only attended, but presented as well, oftentimes in both the oral and poster sessions. In the SCWRC archives, he is the author on five presentations and a co-author on 18 others. While with USGS, he assisted many water utilities, state agencies, universities and non-profits in making science-based decisions in water-resource management. He was on the cutting edge of science with regard to "big data" and data mining. He was one of the pioneers of Artificial Neural Networks, a science that utilized the real-time data of the USGS with a means to understand the effects of drought, which are challenging to quantify adjacent to the ocean. His work in this field was recognized internationally.   

South Carolina has lost a passionate and brilliant water resources scientist, as Paul passed in December 2017. In memory of Paul and his dedication to water resources science and enthusiastic and memorable SCWRC participation, the student poster competition that is held during the South Carolina Water Resources Conference will be named after him. Students who are interested in participating in “The Paul A. Conrads Student Poster Competition” are encouraged to review Paul’s SCWRC manuscripts and posters in the TigerPrints archives at https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/scwrc/ to get a glimpse of the remarkable work of a person who is a notable role model for those interested in pursuing educations and careers in water resources.

Congratulations to the 2018 Winners of the Student Poster Competition:

1. Amanda Accampo - Clemson University
   Improving Irrigation Scheduling for Fruit Trees in the Southeastern U.S.
    
2. Emma Collins - College of Charleston
   Hydrology of a Tidal Freshwater Stream: Using Independent Component Analysis for Signal Separation
    
3. Kristin Cochran - University of South Carolina
   Safer Wastewater for Indirect Potable Reuse: Removal/Transformation of Priority Emerging Contaminants via Advanced Oxidation, and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Transformation Product Identification
    
4. Harshit Shukla - Clemson University
   Evaluation of the Influence of Soil Backfill on Vibration-Based Pipeline Leakage Detection