12/27/99

Contacts:
Ramesh Kanwar, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, (515) 294-4913
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0706

KANWAR NAMED DIRECTOR OF WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE

AMES, Iowa -- Ramesh Kanwar, a professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University, has been named the director of the Iowa State Water Resources Research Institute.

The institute conducts research, education and information programs on water-resources issues and problems facing Iowa. The programs are conducted at the three regent universities -- Iowa State, Iowa and Northern Iowa. Similar research institutes are located at land-grant universities in each state, plus the District of Colombia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. Together they make up the National Institutes for Water Resources. The institutes, created by Congress in 1984, are partly funded from federal sources.

Kanwar has been a faculty member at Iowa State since 1981. He also is an assistant director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. He conducts research in agricultural drainage, irrigation and other water-quality areas related to crop and animal production systems. He teaches courses in soil and water management, water quality, erosion and sediment transport. He has been active in international projects in more than 30 countries, and is an honorary professor at universities in China and Uzbekistan.

Kanwar succeeds Dennis Keeney, professor of agronomy and agricultural and biosystems engineering, who directed the institute for seven years. Keeney is retiring.

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