Big Ideas seeks to combine, leverage and promote San Diego State’s distinctive strengths for the betterment of the world. Faculty from Blue Gold were part of the Big Ideas for Reimagining Transboundary Water. 

About the Research

Water in the California-Mexico transboundary region is more valuable and stressed now than ever before. 

Given recent conflicts and tensions over the quantity and quality of water, there is an urgent need for convergent thinking that brings together technical, scientific and socioeconomic expertise to address needs and questions related to water in the border regions of San Diego-Tijuana and Imperial Valley-Mexicali.

A team of civil and environmental engineers, geographers and economists will build a transboundary community that will focus on solving critical water problems. 

They will tap sensor technology for real-time water quality assessments and develop advanced water treatment technologies. They will identify, map and model flood risks and microbial risks, and assess the impact of climate change and land use on those risks. The team will assess the impact of water policy on water availability for agricultural and urban uses.

The combined knowledge of SDSU researchers in San Diego and Imperial Valley and their Mexican counterparts is needed to address issues related to water scarcity, flooding, and border sanitation and to re-imagine sustainable win-win solutions to water conflicts that benefit both humans and the environment. 

 

• Natalie Mladenov, Ph.D., Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
• Trent Biggs, Ph.D., Geography
• Kari Sant, Ph.D., Public Health
• Eunha Hoh, Ph.D., Public Health
• Rick Gersberg, Ph.D., Public Health
• Christy Dykstra, Ph.D., Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
• Matthew Verbyla, Ph.D., Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
• Linda Lara-Jacobo, Ph.D., Public Health (SDSU Imperial Valley)

• Alicia Kinoshita, Ph.D., Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
• Ryan Abman, Ph.D, Economics
• Bill Tong, Ph.D., Chemistry
• Amy Quandt, Ph.D., Geography
• Hilary McMillan, Ph.D., Geography
• Paul Ganster,Ph.D., Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias 
• Hassan Davani, Ph.D., P.E., Civil, Construction and Environemtnal Engineering