![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/files\/2018\/12\/Well--214x300.jpg\")
It was also a personal connection that launched her thesis. Todd Jarvis, the director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State, suggested that she might be interested in working with the family of a graduate student who had drilled a well on their property in the coast range a few months before to supplement a spring that dried up in the summer. However the well didn\u2019t produce water of reliable quality or quantity. Todd proposed using Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) to store spring water in the well and use it year-round.<\/p>\n
Julianne\u2019s thesis became a feasibility study on ASR, which involves taking surface water from rainwater,\u00a0a river or spring and storing it underground to recover later. This is especially useful in areas where the water supply is seasonal, such as in the Oregon Coast Range. \u201cEspecially with impending climate change issues,\u201d Julianne says, \u201cand because a lot of water depends on the snow pack, people are looking for ways to extend the timing of water use.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the year and a half she worked on her thesis, she did research in\u00a0hydrogeology and worked on a conceptual model. \u201cIt shows the topography on the surface so we can estimate where the water is and how it moves.\u201d She also performed water quality tests and well tests, which required pumping water into the well and then measuring how long it took to recede out.<\/p>\n
Her focus on a single household was not just a way of constraining her research;\u00a0it also represented a unique aspect to her study. \u201cASR has traditionally been done on a bigger scale, for cities, so this is a new idea,\u201d Julianne says.<\/p>\n
The unique nature of her study led to some unique obstacles, as well. \u201cASR and the regulations are formulated for large-scale projects,\u201d she says, \u201cso the wording in the law was a barrier. I talked to people at the Water Resources Department trying to figure out the wording. One person in one department said one thing, and then another person in another department said another.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Julianne\u2019s mentors helped guide her through the process of research, writing and navigating the interpersonal and regulatory challenges. But she enjoyed that the thesis process as a whole was largely independent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of like taking an extended class for a year and a half, but hands-on. I liked the field work.It was cool to see things happen instead of just talking about them. We have equations to predict how water will move, but with groundwater, it\u2019s pretty unpredictable. You have to try it to know – our equations are limited.\u201d And these boundaries include human factors as well. \u201cAs an engineer, knowing the limitations of what we can estimate and design for [is essential].\u201d<\/p>\n
Julianne presented her research at the American Water Researchers Association (AWRA) in fall 2017, and in September, 2017 published an article with her mentors called \u201cDomestic Well Aquifer Storage and Recovery Using Seasonal Springs\u201d in Water Resources Impact<\/em>, the AWRA\u2019s professional publication.<\/p>\n But on top of these research accomplishments, it was particularly gratifying for Julianne to see the human impact of her work firsthand. \u201cIt was great to see water use in practice and to get to know the family that owned the well,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, this family can store water, which can provide a buffer.\u201d<\/p>\n She also discovered that this family\u2019s issue with groundwater on the coast was not unusual. \u201cIn the\u00a0whole coast range, the geology is slow-moving and impermeable – it\u2019s clay. So it\u2019s common out there to drill wells and abandon them.\u201d<\/p>\n One of her mentors even suggested that she could make a career as a consultant addressing this issue on the coast.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m interested in groundwater and engineering. I\u2019ve thought about eventually going into engineering consulting, maybe working internationally, somewhere where I can combine engineering and working with people from diverse backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n She will begin along that path by serving in the United States Peace Corps in Panama. She left in June, 2018 immediately after graduating with her H.B.S., for her 27-month service. \u201cThis seemed like a good opportunity to apply what I\u2019ve learned, and I\u2019ve always liked learning about other cultures.”<\/p>\n Julianne would encourage other students to take advantage of the valuable experience of writing a thesis. \u201cMy advice is to view it as an opportunity, not something to be afraid of. I\u2019ve had friends who have gotten jobs or have found their life passion through their thesis project. But [even if that doesn\u2019t happen,] it\u2019s a pretty cool opportunity to work closely with faculty and grad students and to apply what you\u2019re learning, no matter what you do in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n By Kristi Quillen: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Honors College<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was a family\u2019s real-world issue with their well that inspired Julianne Robinson\u2019s thesis project \u2013 and inspired one of the biggest lessons the honors ecological engineering major took from her research experience: the importance of human interaction. This was something her teachers and mentors had been telling her all along. \u201cI had an engineering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8792,"featured_media":7438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,82,1306],"tags":[1163409,213050,523,911,979,340],"class_list":["post-3352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-features","category-student","tag-asr","tag-honors-thesis","tag-research","tag-students","tag-thesis","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8872,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions\/8872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}