PIRE Home | Water and Food Security PIRE | College of Engineering

Time for the New Dry Season Forecast 2020-21 is Available (Click on the Banner to Access the Forecast)!
On Wednesday, October 21, PIRE students Kristen and Genevieve will serve as panelists at UConn's annual Research Connection event (https://fyp.uconn.edu/researchconnections/)
To read the full news, click on the image!
Water and Food Security PIRE project covers a broad range of actions and connects different disciplines through state-of-the-art research.
Students from UConn had an exciting experience in the summer 2019 field visit to Ethiopia.

Project Overview

How do relationships between scientists, farmers, water managers, and authorities influence the production, dissemination, and outcome of new scientific knowledge? This project establishes an international research and education partnership to promote a political-institutional model of science that links sociological and engineering methods in a people-centered approach to the human-climate-water-agriculture-energy nexus in the Blue Nile basin (BNB), Ethiopia.

The project is a multi-year collaborative endeavor that will run from 2016 to 2021. By the end of the project, the research team will have crafted state-of-the-art tools to help smallholder farmers make practical decisions about water, crops, and fertilizers and ultimately gain more secure access to food and water in the face of increasingly challenging climatic extremes.

Project Goals

The UConn PIRE project brings people and resources together across disciplinary, cultural, and geographical boundaries to promote knowledge-driven and rights-based interventions that enhance food and water security in vulnerable settings. We promote a political-institutional model of science that links sociological and engineering methods for a people-centered approach. Our political-institutional approach integrates graduate and undergraduate education, professional training, and community outreach into the research program to develop the human capital and social connections between all stakeholders—scientists, farmers, policymakers and students in the United States and in Ethiopia. The project achieves its objectives through:

Provision of superior quality seasonal forecast information at a scale relevant to local farmers and water resource managers -- Learn More

Identifying political-institutional barriers that influence the uptake of new forecast information -- Learn More

Training a new generation of global expert that constitute competitive international workforce -- Learn More

10/19/26
Using Math and Science to Tell a Story, Engineering Student Adds in Some Magic Too

‘The Enchanted Book’ combines elements of art and engineering to create an automated mechanism that flips pages, emits light, and offers sound
10/16/26
State Solidifies Its Investment in UConn Engineering AI Programs

AI and big data are identified as the fastest-growing skill area through 2030, and 86% of surveyed employers expect AI and information-processing technologies to transform their organizations
10/15/26
Six from UConn Named CT Women of Innovation Finalists

The finalists include UConn staff, faculty, and a doctoral student
10/14/26
Students Invited to Explore Innovation, Creativity at Annual Experience Innovation Expo

The Expo will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Union Room 304 at UConn Storrs

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