OARDC’s 2015 Annual Research Conference, which took place in April, featured 11 speakers on a theme of “Water Quality: Sustaining a Vital Resource.”
The speakers included Deanna Osmond, North Carolina State University soil science professor, who spoke on “Can We Protect Water Quality? The Importance of Watersheds”; OARDC scientist Jay Martin on “Field to Faucet: Impacts of Phosphorus and Steps Forward in the Lake Erie Basin”; and CFAES Dean Bruce McPheron on “CFAES’s Role in Solving Today’s Challenges for a Better Tomorrow.”
“I’ve been talking about water for a long time,” said McPheron, who was named leader of CFAES in 2012 and was Penn State’s agriculture dean before that. “I used to start conversations by saying, ‘Water is the next generation’s oil.’ I have abandoned that statement. Water is our oil. It is this generation’s oil.
“When we talk about food security, we have to have water security first or there is no food.”
“Water is our oil. It is this generation’s oil.”—Bruce McPheron
Research on water, spotlight on winners
- Watch McPheron’s presentation here.
- Watch OARDC Director Steve Slack’s presentation, “Update on Research Activities in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences,” here or above.
- The conference also included the presentation of OARDC’s annual research awards. Read about the recipients here and here.