Hydrophiles History

2005-2006

This was a very exciting year for Hydrophiles due to the influx of water students matriculating with the first official year of the Water Resources Graduate Program, as well as the large-scale structuring of water programs on campus through the University’s new Institute of Water and Watersheds.  We played a role in new student orientations and in the selection process for the incoming director of the IWW.  We had a tribute to and history of the club published in the summer and mail-out issue of the Barometer which served to encourage new students to get involved with the group.  We organized a successful Winter Seminar Series hosting 10 of OSU’s Water Alumni and facilitated a wonderful Spring Seminar Series that featured World-class Women in Water.  We organized three field trips including facilitating the first annual 1st Annual Leal A. K. Mertes Memorial River Trip on the McKenzie River.  We had weekly-periodic officers meetings as well as weekly gatherings for coffee (Agua Caliente) and post-seminar libations.  Considerable efforts were made to update the website, and we hand off the reigns to the incoming officers with no doubt that the coming year will be the best yet!

2001-2002
In its fifth and finest year Hydrophiles has been able to sustain attendance at about a dozen people at each of its meetings, with many more faculty guests for the presentation portions of the meeting. We also enjoyed post-meeting socializing at Bombs Away Cafe and members' houses. The club began a tradition of going on a field trip during each quarter with an appropriate theme from the Pacific Northwest hydrologic cycle: baseflow and groundwater during fall, snow during winter, and runoff during spring. All of our field trips were smoothly run, very informative, and a ton of fun. This year Hydrophiles got into the web in a big way, with our own club website as well as the OSU Water Resources website as a service to the University. The latter website was a huge project involving an online database, but hopefully time will tell that this was a solid investment to make in our program and OSU's future. The club also affiliated itself with AIH and began working toward the integration of professional certification with our Water Resources program.

2000-2001
In its fourth year Hydrophiles has been able to sustain attendance at about a dozen people at each of its meetings, with many more faculty guests for the presentation portions of the meeting. We also enjoyed post-meeting socializing at Bombs Away Cafe and members' houses. The club began a tradition of going on a field trip during each quarter with an appropriate theme from the Pacific Northwest hydrologic cycle: baseflow and groundwater during fall, snow during winter, and runoff during spring. All of our field trips were smoothly run, very informative, and a ton of fun. This year Hydrophiles got into the web in a big way, with our own club website as well as the OSU Water Resources website as a service to the University. The latter website was a huge project involving an online database, but hopefully time will tell that this was a solid investment to make in our program and OSU's future. The club also affiliated itself with AIH and began working toward the integration of professional certification with our Water Resources program.

1998 - 1999
In its second year Hydrophiles has been able to sustain attendance at about a dozen people at each of its meetings, with many more faculty guests for the presentation portions of the meeting. We also enjoyed post-meeting socializing at Bombs Away Cafe and members' houses. The club began a tradition of going on a field trip during each quarter with an appropriate theme from the Pacific Northwest hydrologic cycle: baseflow and groundwater during fall, snow during winter, and runoff during spring. All of our field trips were smoothly run, very informative, and a ton of fun. This year Hydrophiles got into the web in a big way, with our own club website as well as the OSU Water Resources website as a service to the University. The latter website was a huge project involving an online database, but hopefully time will tell that this was a solid investment to make in our program and OSU's future. The club also affiliated itself with AIH and began working toward the integration of professional certification with our Water Resources program.

Officers: John Faustini, President Christine May, Vice-President Scott Waichler, Secretary Timothy Link, Treasurer

Advisors: Dr. John Selker Dr. George Ice Dr. Bob Beschta Dr. Roy Haggerty

Webmasters: Scott Waichler, Ben Jacob, Tim Link.

1997 - 1998
Hydrophiles was organized during October, 1997. Posters were put up all over campus and a meeting with about 30 people was held. The charter members quickly settled on AWRA as our best choice for professional society affiliation. The tradition of a having a science talk at every monthly meeting was begun, and helped hold people's interest as we negotiated the tedious paths of preparing constitutions that met OSU and AWRA requirements. Still, we struggled with low attendance, often 6 or less, during the first year's meetings. Our first Hydrophiles field trip, a wonderful 3-day trip to the Klamath Basin, helped build student interest and gave us visibility among faculty members. Later that spring we also took a raft trip on the McKenzie river.

Officers: Scott Waichler, Founder and President John Faustini, Vice-President Beverly Wemple, Secretary Christine May, Treasurer

Advisors: Dr. John Selker Dr. Bob Beschta Dr. Roy Haggerty