Texas Tech University's Office of Communications & Marketing recently launched a new YouTube-based communications series known as Foundations. The program centers on challenging topics about the world and community, hosting conversations that inspire by curating a group of people with passion and poise, said university officials.

The first 47-minute episode, which premiered in mid-July, highlights five experts from across campus to talk about one of the most important resources on the planet - water. These researchers come from different backgrounds. What they all have in common is a genuine interest in water, the potential issues this region will face in the future and how those issues can be mitigated. 

Among those featured from the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources are:

• Blake Grisham, an associate professor within Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management. His research centers on incorporating weather and climate data into ecological field studies with an emphasis on ground-nesting birds, and more recently disease ecology of upland game birds and ungulates. He has secured funding to study multiple species, including Sandhill Cranes, Lesser Prairie-Chickens, Northern Bobwhite, Scaled Quail, Axis Deer, and waterfowl. Recent honors for Grisham include the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award (2017). His doctorate is from Texas Tech. He joined the Texas Tech faculty in 2014.
• Krishna Jagadish, Thornton Distinguished Chair and Professor of Forage Science in Texas Tech University's Department of Plant & Soil Science. He also serves as Director of the Texas Coalition for Sustainable Integrated Systems Research Program and Coordinator of the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation. His research program broadly focuses on optimizing the crop-forage-livestock systems for Southern High Plains, to sustain economic benefits and enhance environmental sustainability. His goal is to develop a dynamic research and training program on forage-based cropping systems that will be highly recognized both nationally and internationally. His doctorate is from the University of Reading (United Kingdom).
• Rick Kellison, Texas Alliance for Water Conservation Project Director. Based at Texas Tech and funded by a grant from the Texas Water Development Board, TAWC is a partnership of producers, technology firms, universities and government agencies working to extend the life of the largest subterranean aquifer in the United States. The project uses on-farm demonstrations of cropping and livestock systems to compare the production practices, technologies, and systems that can maintain individual farm profitability while improving water use efficiency with a goal of extending the life of the Ogallala Aquifer while maintaining the viability of local farms and communities.

Other individuals on the program include Amy Hardberger, Texas Tech George W. McCleskey Professor of Water Law, and Director of the Center for Water Law & Policy, along with Karin Ardon-Dryer, an assistant professor of atmospheric science within Texas Tech's Department of Geosciences.

Looking ahead, communications & marketing leaders said they will continue to have these conversations across a number of topics, using the university's reach to bring together people from different fields and paint the broadest picture imaginable on the subject matter. 

CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu

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