The recipient of the 2019 Savery Outstanding Masters’ Student is Lisabeth (Nicky) Arellano, Water Resource Science, in Biological and Ecological Engineering
Nicky is completing a Peace Corps Master’s International program at OSU. Her research is building an understanding of patterns in hydrologic recharge. Beyond a novel research approach from a technical perspective, Nicky’s work is addressing a key hydrologic uncertainty for regions grappling with rapid change in population, land use, and development.
As part of this program, Nicky spent the past two years in Panama in the Peace Corps serving rural villages who need access to water. During her time in Panama Nicky coordinated a network of volunteers to help her collected water samples, which she periodically shipped back to the lab in Oregon. She has now analyzed these precipitation and surface water samples for their stable isotope ratio and is applying Bayesian statistical models to estimate the recharge elevation of water sources at her study sites.
Nicky’s nominators noted:
...She co-authored two publications.
...She has been active in Community Service with the Oregon State University Hydrophiles Student Club
… Her philosophy fits the new paradigm of the "compassionate" water resources professional as evidenced by the purposeful design of her OSU curricula to establish strong links with the socio-economic and human sciences.
… In sum, Ms. Arellano is the complete package, leadership, scholarship, community service, work ethic.