A UNM professor has been nominated as Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Water and the Environment at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
Reed Benson, Weihofen professor at the UNM School of Law, will conduct research, deliver guest lectures and mention students at “one of the Canada’s most influential research universities for the fall 2015 semester,” according to a UNM press release.
“I see it as both an honor and an opportunity,” Reed said. “The Fulbright program has such a strong tradition of promoting scholarly exchange between the U.S. and other nations. I was honored to be selected for an award. My research on water issues in Canada gives me a wonderful opportunity to learn some lessons that may be relevant and valuable for the western United States.”
As part of his research, he will examine dam and reservoir operations and whether they may be revised to address changing needs and values, as well as alleviate the impacts of climate change, according to the statement. In Canada, Benson will study proposed and actual changes to water operations in Alberta as compared to the western United States.
“I have spent my career working on issues of water and the environment in the American West, where the water law system makes it challenging to adapt to changing conditions,” he said. “In southern Alberta both the water management challenges and the legal system are generally similar, so any approach that succeeds here also has a chance of working in the western U.S.
Reed teaches courses on water law, natural resources and administrative law at the UNM School of Law. He is chairs the school’s Natural Resources and Environmental Law Program, according to the UNM release, and has published nearly 30 articles on western water law and policy.
“The main focus of my research is water law, policy and management in the western United States,” he said. “I have focused largely on how traditional water laws and institutions have addressed environmental problems.”
Western Canada is increasingly facing water scarcity, and Reed is grateful for the chance to learn more about how the Canadian approach those challenges, he said.
“The American West faces huge challenges in water management that will only get more difficult in the coming years,” he said. “I hope I can help develop laws and policies that will help us meet those challenges.”
The Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America (Fulbright Canada) is a binational, treaty-based, non-governmental and not-for-profit organization that identifies the best and brightest minds in both countries and engages them in residential academic exchange, according to Fulbright Canada’s website.
More than 1,200 research scholars and students have attended the program so far, according to the website.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
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