Go to: Meetings & Events | Chapter Officers & Board Members | Chapter News
Meetings & Events
If you would like to present at a future chapter meeting, contact us at info@azhydrosoc.org. Note that we can no longer issue refunds for cancellations; in addition, you must pay in advance — we cannot take payments at the door or invoice you after an event.
The Tucson chapter will not be meeting in April — see you at BSMAR18! There’s still time to register at bsmar.org. Save the date for our May presentation by Gary Woodard on “Fraud, Blind Spots, Data Mining, and Black Swans — Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You Read About Water.”
May 2024 Chapter Meeting
- Date: May 14
- Time: 6:00–6:30 PM; talk from 6:30–7:30 PM
- Place: Montgomery & Associates, 1550 E. Prince Rd.
- Cost, in person: $5 AHS members / free for student members / $10 nonmembers (covers food and beverages); note that registration closes at 1 PM on the day of the talk
- Cost, Zoom only: Free for all AHS members / $10 nonmembers / $5 student nonmembers. Limit 100. Zoom invitations are provided in your registration confirmation (email us if you do not receive this).
Looking Ahead…
June: Presentations by El Día del Agua y la Atmósfera student award winners
July / August: Summer break
September: TBD
October: TBD
November: TBD
December: Holiday party
All attendees must register for chapter meetings in advance. We will turn away walk-ins! This applies to professionals and to students who are attending for free. We need to know the number of attendees in advance so we can plan accordingly. Likewise, if you sign up but later find that you cannot attend, please let us know so we can open up your spot for someone else. Please respect these ground rules… and register early to ensure that you reserve your spot.
Abstract: Fraud, Blind Spots, Data Mining, and Black Swans — Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You Read About Water
The rate at which refereed journal articles are being retracted has soared in recent years, reflecting serious shortcomings in review processes. Potentially more serious than academic fraud are cases of innocent errors, particularly where research findings align with previously published, but erroneous results. An additional problem is the transformation of data mining from something frowned upon to a coveted “skill”, and the attendant risk of inverting the process of hypothesis formation and testing. A fourth challenge is black swan events, which can shift baselines to the point where forecasts rely on extrapolations rather than interpolations.
Hydrology and water resources are not immune to these problems. This talk draws on the presenter’s 40+ years of research on water demand and describes how patently false ideas can become embedded doctrine, and the challenges of confronting and correcting them.
Speaker: Gary Woodard
Gary Woodard has over 40 years of experience as both a consultant and a researcher at the University of Arizona. He specializes in integrating economic analysis with water resources issues, providing a critical bridge that is often missing from policy decisions. He applies his “toolkit” — econometric modeling, benefit-cost analysis, policy analysis, survey techniques, field instrumentation, and legal analysis — to projects that involve modeling municipal water demand, evaluating water portfolios, examining rates, performing water efficiency audits, teaching water harvesting workshops, and assessing water conservation programs.
Chapter Officers & Board Members
2024 Chapter Officers
- President: Shawn Calendine, hydroGEOPHYSICS
- Vice President: Mekha Pereira, Montgomery & Associates
- Treasurer: Maya Teyechea, Metro Water District
- Secretary: James Meza, Salt River Project
- Chapter Board Member at Large: David Barnes, GEOSCIENCE Support Services
- Chapter Board Member at Large: Marleigh Nicholas, UA
2024 Corporate Board Members
- Corporate Treasurer: John Villinski, Clear Creek Associates
- Corporate Board Member: Michael Block (Retired)
You can contact board members via email at info@azhydrosoc.org.
Chapter News
- Order Your AHS Beer MugNow’s your chance to grab one or more AHS mason jar beer mugs. If you order by September 4, you can pick your mug up at the 2023 AHS Symposium. If you’re not planning to attend the symposium, you can…
- 2023 Halpenny Scholar AnnouncedThe Tucson chapter has selected this year’s Halpenny Intern Scholar: Natalie Yurek. Natalie is a rising junior in the UA’s Hydrology and Atmospheric Science (HAS) program. She is interested in exploring the interplay between Earth, atmosphere, and water systems by…
- Mission Garden Tour RecapOn February 18, a group of folks from the Tucson chapter joined Chuck Graf, our 2018 AHS Lifetime Achievement Award winner, for a tour of Mission Garden and surrounding areas. Mission Garden was originally part of, and served, the village…
- Purchase your AHS Mason Jar MugsOrder now and pick your mug up at a Tucson chapter meeting. If you belong to the Flagstaff or Phoenix chapters, order by February 3rd and we’ll have them available for your chapter president to give you at your next…
- Eulogy for Tom Meixnerby Jeffrey J. Gawad, MSc, Technical Resource Manager, ADWR During my years as a student at the University of Arizona, Tom Meixner was one of the professors that had an outsized influence on me. I worked for two of my…
- Save the Date: Mission Garden, Mission San Agustín, and S-cuk Son TourLimit: 15 AHS Members Date: Saturday, February 18th Time: 9:30 – 11:30 AM Cost: $5 per member, AHS will pay the other half of the $10 tour fee Lunch on your own at Barrio Brewing Co. Directions to Mission Garden:…