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Home >News : Swackhamer Named President Elect of NIWR

Deborah Swackhamer Selected President Elect of the National Institutes of Water Resources

(July 22, 2009) -- Deborah Swackhamer, co-director of the Water Resources Center, has been named president elect of the National Institutes of Water Resources (NIWR) based in Washington D.C. Swackhamer will assume the one-year appointment Oct. 1 in addition to her regular University duties.

A professor of environmental chemistry in the University’s School of Public Health. Swackhamer also holds the Charles M. Denny, Jr. Chair of Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. She is internationally known for her research and leadership on persistent organic compounds including PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides in the Great Lakes and the exposure of endocrine disruptors and human-induced hormones in lakes and watersheds.

As president of NIWR, Swackhamer will oversee the network of 54 water resources centers located in land grant institutions across the country, as well as the agency’s efforts to coordinate and promote the training and research activities of water quality professionals and researchers in the United States and around the world.

In her role at the U’s Water Resources Center (WRC), Swackhamer manages the research and educational programs within the center and oversees the program that provides funding to researchers studying water resource problems in Minnesota and the Midwest. The WRC leverages the federal investment into a $4 million annual budget, which is put to work to improve the water quality of Minnesota’s lake, streams, rivers, and groundwater. The WRC was ranked among the top five water institutes in the country in its last national review.