National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Workshop
In December 2013, Stephanie Debats and Drew Gower attended the first meeting of an 18-month modeling workshop series through the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis, Maryland. The workshop series is entitled “Towards Socio-Hydrologic Synthesis: Modeling the Co-Evolutionary Dynamics of Coupled Human, Water, & Ecological Systems”.
Stephanie and Drew, along with other workshop participants, organized the Agent-Based Modeling Working Group, which will focus on incorporating decision-making of individuals, such as farmers, with hydrologic models. Stephanie aims to address coping strategies among rainfed smallholder farmers in Zambia, while Drew will study the effects of climate variability on small-scale irrigation systems in Kenya.