AWRC Impact by the Numbers

The Arkansas Water Resources Center just wrapped up its 5-year report (FY2016 – 2020) to the U.S. Geological Survey on how we use our annual funding.

The AWRC is Arkansas’s Water Resources Research Institute. This nationwide network was established by the Water Resources Research Act (WRRA) of 1984. Section 104(b) of WRRA awards institutes an annual base grant to support water research priorities at the state level.

The AWRC largely devotes these funds to a competitive seed grant program for researchers at Arkansas institutions of higher learning. The focus of these grants is on training the next generation of scientists. Our grants also help early-career faculty build productive and successful research programs.

The AWRC funded 26 research projects in the areas of Water Scarcity and Availability, Watershed and Ecosystem Function, Water Technology and Innovation, and Water Quality.

These projects supported 52 students and 19 early-career faculty. Cumulatively, researchers received ~$3.5 million in follow-on grants that they tied back to their 104(b) seed grants!

More than 2/3 of projects shared findings in 56 peer-reviewed publications, mostly as science journal articles. Projects supported 111 presentations at science conferences, many by students. Twenty-three students graduated with their Master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation on these projects.

Researchers and the Center also participated in 37 education and outreach events and published 15 extension or technical bulletin items and 11 technical project reports.

We think these numbers are the perfect illustration of how the AWRC is making our federal dollars work hard for the citizens of Arkansas!