2025 Governor's Water Conference and Research Symposium

The Oklahoma Water Resources Center is excited to announce that we are accepting poster, standard oral and lightning talk presentation abstracts for the 2025 Oklahoma Governor’s Water Conference and Research Symposium.

Important Dates

• September 10, 2025 - Call for Abstracts Opens

• October 15, 2025 - Abstracts due by 5:00 p.m.

• October 30, 2025 - Notifications of Abstract Status

• December 3-4, 2025 - Conference and Research Symposium

• Abstract Submission

  Professionals, researchers, and students are invited to submit.

  Presentation Categories:

  • Poster Presentation: Posters should measure no more than 3 ft x 4 ft (36in x 48in; either landscape or portrait orientation is acceptable.) Easels, 3 ft x 4 ft poster boards, and clips will be provided.

  • Standard Oral Presentation: 15-minute slot (12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for Q&A).

  • Lightning Talk Presentation: 5-minute presentation.

  Only limited standard oral presentation and lightning talk presentation slots are available, so we encourage you to please mark all the presentation formats that you are willing to present.

  Example: If you mark both standard oral and lightning talk, and you are not chosen for a standard oral presentation, this will allow you to still be considered for presenting a lightning talk.

  Topics:

  • Presentations must be either research or extension/outreach topics relevant to water resources in Oklahoma.

  More information will be sent to applicants whose applications are accepted.

• Registration

  • Registration for accepted student presenters will be submitted and paid for by the Oklahoma Water Resources Center. Please DO NOT register yourself – if you do register yourself, you will NOT be reimbursed.

  • Non-student presenters are responsible for submitting their own registration and payment.

  • Please visit the conference website for additional information.

• FAQ

  Q: When are abstract submissions due?

  A: October 15, 2025, by 5 p.m. CST through the online submission form on this page.

  Q: What type of presentation categories does the OWRC offer?

  A:There are 3 presentation categories: the standard oral presentation (15 minutes including time for Q&A), the poster presentation (poster session held on December 3) and the lightning talk – a 5-minute oral presentation with an enforced time limit.

  Q: Who is the audience?

  A: The conference draws scientists, policymakers, agency personnel, consultants and interested citizens from many disciplines. All presentations should be comprehensible to a general, non-expert audience.

  Q: I’m a student that would like to submit an abstract to the OWRC, but I will have only preliminary data or no data by December. What type of presentation category should I consider?

  A: You should consider the lightning talk or poster presentation categories. Standard oral presentations are intended for projects that contain a well-developed result and/or discussion component.

• Awards

  Monetary awards will be provided for the top student posters following the conference.

Below are presentations selected for the 2025 Governor's Water Conference Research Symposium on December 3rd and 4th. Please refer to the conference page for schedule.

Lightning Session Research Symposium

• • Mamata Pandey – A Framework for Developing a Global Crop Evapotranspiration Forecasting Tool

  • Joy Brato Shil – Integrating Satellite and In-Situ Data for High-Resolution Soil Moisture Monitoring in Agricultural Fields

  • Abinava Yeshwanth Kalayambakam Janardhan – Data-Driven Modeling of Multi-Depth Soil Moisture for Irrigation Scheduling

  • Jacob Kettner – Analyzing the Impacts of Irrigation Schedules When Using Historical Weather Forecasts in pyfao56

  • Alok Pandit – Investigating Changes in Consumptive Water Use in Furrow and Subsurface Drip Irrigated Fields

  • Digvijay Mohite – Irrigated Cotton Production Under Limited Well Capacities in The Central High Plains

  • Navdeep Saasan – Field-Scale Agro-Hydrological Responses to Regenerative Agriculture in Altus, Oklahoma, Under Future Climates

  • Aaron Long – Residential Landscape Irrigation in Oklahoma: A Baseline Assessment of Infrastructure, Demographics, and Best Management Practice Adoption

  • Andrew Fleet – A Year in Water

  • Megan Ryan – Aerial Perspective: UAV Use for Assessing Culvert Condition in Oklahoma

  • Saikumar Payyavula – AI to Assist Small Water Treatment Plant Operations - Alum Prediction

  • Charles Liu – Extending Multi-Basin Datasets for Streamflow Predictions on the Washita River

Water Quality Challenges and Innovations Standard Oral Concurrent Session Research Symposium

• • Jason Masoner – Land Application of Biosolid, Livestock, and Drilling Wastes to US Farmland: A Potential Pathway for the Redistribution of Contaminants in the Environment

  • Jeri Fleming – Addressing a Poopy Problem: Implementation of a Statewide Septic Replacement Program

  • Jeff Sadler – Oklahoma Well Owner Network: Well Water Education and Testing in Oklahoma

  • Afsaneh Kaghazchi – A Correlation-Based Framework for Identifying Pollutant Hotspots in Grazinglands

  • Brandon Brown – Intrinsic Values of Oklahoma Streams

  • Jessica Beyer – Genomic DNA Provides Unique Insight into Cyanobacterial Composition, Abundances, And Potential for Toxin Production

Water Sustainability Standard Oral Concurrent Session Research Symposium

• • Bryony Puxley – Precipitation Whiplash Events Across the State of Oklahoma

  • Zachary Tomlinson – Percent Depletion in the Oklahoma Panhandle Region of the Ogallala Aquifer (Predevelopment to 2021)​

  • Lara Joy – Delineating the Dakota Sandstone Aquifer in Cimarron County, Oklahoma

  • Yanhua Xie – Developing Next-Generation Agricultural Irrigation Data Using Geospatial AI

  • Shadi Fathollahifard – Evaluating Wastewater Reuse Sustainability Under Projected Hydrologic Variability in Cache Creek, Southwestern Oklahoma

  • Tucker McCoy – Cleveland Lake: A Firm Yield Analysis

Poster Presenters Research Symposium

• • Saeedeh Abedzadeh – Hydrologic Modeling of Cover Crop Effects on Peak Discharge and Hydrograph Timing

  • Shahrukh Ali – Manganese-Based Tetraazamacrocyclic Catalyst for Antibiotic Degradation in Wastewater and Water Reuse

  • Alec Anderson – Predictive Modeling for Lugert-Altus Reservoir Inflow

  • Ali Ashrafi – Advances in the Oklahoma Automated Soil Information System (OASIS)

  • Baboucarr Awe – Emerging Contaminants in Biosolids

  • Mark Anthony Barbadillo – Obtaining Improved Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity and Drainage Estimates Using the Rosetta Pedotransfer Function Model

  • Kevin Blanco – Assessing Sanitary Sewer Systems in Oklahoma through Synthetic Sewer Networks

  • Lizzie Booker – Life Cycle Assessment of Corn Production at the Oklahoma Testing Ag Performance Solutions Site

  • Jessica Burke – Denitrifying Bacteria and Iron Amended Eastern Redcedar Biochar for Enhanced Aqueous Nutrient Removal

  • Lihui Cai – Comparative Study of Desalination Techniques for High Salinity Brines from the Oil and Gas Industry

  • Kaitlyn Dennis – Improving Oklahoma’s Hydrologic Monitoring: Integrating TEROS 12 Soil Moisture Sensors into the Oklahoma Mesonet

  • Cole Diggins – Estimating Soil Moisture Conditions of Cropland Across Oklahoma

  • Arturo Flores – The Relationships Between Plant Available Water, Crop Yields, and Rural Economies: A Case Study from Southwest Oklahoma

  • Dulce Gallardo-Owens – Determining the Occurrence and Fate of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Water and Wastewater

  • Kabita Gautam – The Role of Soil Moisture in Neural Network-Based Streamflow Prediction

  • Vicktoria Holdaway – Experimental Design to Evaluate Nutrient Removal Efficiency of Native Oklahoma Wetland Species in Floating Treatment Wetland Mesocosms

  • Gabriela Inaba da Silva – Enhancing Statewide Soil Water Monitoring Through the Oklahoma Hydronet

  • Aarati Kafle – Mapping No-Tillage Farming Impacts on Winter Wheat Productivity and Water Use Efficiency in Oklahoma

  • Tatumn Kennedy – A Spatial Water Balance Approach to Evaluate Groundwater Withdrawal and Irrigation Sustainability in the Upper Red River Basin, US

  • Patrick Kitzel – Systematic Study of Various Mg2+/Al3+ Layered Double Hydroxide Formulations for Phosphate and Nitrate Removal from Water

  • James Lee – Nitrates in Oklahoma Well Water

  • Sylvia Mensah – Assessing the Impact of Climate Variation and Hydrological Changes on Perennial Streams in Southeastern Oklahoma: A Study of Natural River Dynamics and Ecosystem Response.

  • Sydney Nordquist – Influence of Rainfall Intensity on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Concentrations in Landfill Leachate from an Unlined Landfill in Norman, Oklahoma

  • Diego Felipe Osorio Giraldo – Storm Motion Characteristics of Extreme Rainfall Events in Oklahoma

  • Debbendu Saha – Application of HEC-RAS to Investigate Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Risk Reduction along the Neosho River

  • Khaled Sallam – Design and Fabrication of a Compact Mechanical Vapor Compression Desalination System for Produced Water from Oil and Gas Industry

  • Ali Shahidi Nejad – Evaluating UV-Based Advanced Oxidation Processes (UV-AOPs) for the Removal of Gabapentin to Enhance Water Reuse in Oklahoma

  • Reeya Shrestha – Enhancing Field-Scale Evapotranspiration Modeling Using Mesonet and Satellite Data in Oklahoma

  • Resham Shrestha – Uptake of Methylene Blue by Mesoporous Silica as a Segregate for Organics Contaminates in Water

  • Erfan Smiley – Freshwater Mussels as Natural Biofilters: Assessing Metal Accumulation and Water Quality in the Kiamichi River

  • Mahyar Taheri – Predicting Flood-Prone Areas Using SWOT-Derived Water Surface Elevation and Deep Learning with HAND-Based Hydrologic Constraints

  • Vaisakh Thenissery Veettil – Solar-Driven Water Purification Via Co-Catalytic Carbon-Metal Chalcogenide System for Electrochemical Metal-Ion Reduction

  • Allie Thomas – Water Sustainability In Beef Production: A Cradle-to-feedlot Life Cycle Comparison Of Grazing Rate Of Gain

  • Ally Whiteis – Long-Term Trends of Striped Bass Habitat Suitability Under a Temperature-Oxygen Squeeze in Lake Texoma, Oklahoma and Texas

  • Alireza Zahedi – Interfacial Properties of Produced Water–Cyclohexane Systems Under Surfactant Influence

2025 abstract submissions are now closed.