Astronaut Clayton Anderson to open research forum April 6

Nebraska's Clayton Anderson, the state's first and only astronaut, will keynote the virtual Water for Food Research Forum on April 6.  NASA | Courtesy
Nebraska's Clayton Anderson, the state's first and only astronaut, will keynote the virtual Water for Food Research Forum on April 6. NASA | Courtesy

Clayton Anderson, Nebraska’s only astronaut, will keynote the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute’s virtual Water for Food Research Forum from 10 a.m. to noon April 6.

This annual event celebrates the important research of University of Nebraska students working toward food and water security. The forum will showcase examples of their work, focusing on the theme “Creating Impact through Science.”

Anderson spent 167 days in space and 38 hours and 28 minutes executing 6 spacewalks. He applied 15 times before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1998, and he spent 30 years working for NASA; 15 as an engineer and then 15 as an astronaut.

Nebraska state climatologist Martha Shulski will also be speaking. A native of Nebraska, Martha is a DWFI Faculty Fellow, associate professor of Applied Climate Science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, director of the Nebraska State Climate Office and a self-proclaimed “weather nerd.” She was one of the contributing authors on the Fourth National Climate Assessment released in 2018.

Since 2014, DWFI’s student support program has made more than 80 awards supporting postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students on all four University of Nebraska campuses and invested $2.7M — of which $2.1M has been matched one-to-one by faculty.

The Water for Food Research Forum is open to everyone, but registration is required. After registering, users will receive a Zoom link to join the virtual forum.

https://unl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JEUQh4aPQR2poqpQkW08Ww