Within a span of two weeks, WERI was able to continue their outreach efforts with a visiting university from the US. Ten engineering students from the University of Pittsburgh were on a study abroad trip to Guam, led by their advisor, Dr. David Sanchez. As part of the students’ engineering interests in water resources and management, they paid a visit to WERI on Aug. 2, 2021.
WERI was among the other University of Guam volunteers, which include the School of Engineering and the School of Business and Public Administration, to host the UPitt group. Despite the downpour of rain earlier that morning, Dr. Jenson, the director of WERI, and the WERI faculty and staff gave the UPitt group a warm welcome.
In his introductory presentation, “WERI: Who We Are and What We Do,” Dr. Jenson painted an image of the local research institution. Here, he detailed the purpose of the work and studies conducted on the site.
The students proceeded with a tour of the Water Quality Lab, led by Mallary Duenas, the lab manager and a research assistant for WERI. During the tour, Mallary highlighted the different instruments and equipment they use to conduct water analysis.
The tour continued with a virtual dive into the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer (NGLA), which was piloted by Dr. Nathan Habana. This was the second time that Dr. Habana has presented the NGLA Virtual Tour after his presentation last week at the Soil and Water Educators Symposium.
Following Dr. Habana’s presentation, graduate students gave the UPitt group a glimpse into their ongoing research projects at WERI. Each project focused on an aspect of the NGLA: Eliana Walker’s presentation on aquifer discharge by thermal imaging, Ma. Jhonie Villareal’s presentation on mapping a discharge cave on the northwest coast and Kaylyn Bautista’s presentation on aquifer monitoring with the Monitoring System Expansion Rehabilitation System (MSERP).
WERI faculty members, Dr. Yuming Wen, Dr. Myeong-Ho Yeo and Dr. Mark Lander, also shared their research interests with the UPitt students and showcased some of their upcoming research and projects at WERI.
This event continues to open WERI’s doors up to the public – continuing their research, outreach and education efforts for the future onwards.
