Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Raghavan “Srini” Srinivasan as director of the Center for Integrated Analysis of Agriculture and Natural Resources, CIANR, within Texas A&M AgriLife Research. The CIANR will provide a stable home for existing grant and contract research on an integrated decision support system being used in three long-term projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Furthermore, a generous pledge by Dr. Neville P. ’54 and Marsy Clarke will help establish an endowed chair for the center.
Current collaborators in the CIANR’s work are based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Blackland Research and Extension Center, the Texas A&M Spatial Sciences Laboratory and the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M. The interdisciplinary and inter-institutional team models the environmental, economic and nutritional consequences of agricultural production systems at state, national and international levels. Faculty from The Texas A&M University System and external entities with interest in the mission and goals of the CIANR are invited to apply as members. In addition, graduate and undergraduate students who participate gain experience in using the models for future work in research and practice.
Dr. Srini has been a key collaborator in the research that led to the formation of the new center. He already serves as director of the Blackland Research and Extension Center and the Spatial Sciences Laboratory. A Regents Fellow and an AgriLife Research Fellow, he is a preeminent expert on the computational modeling of hydrology, water quality and spatial sciences problems, and his work has yielded lasting improvements in natural resource management around the world. Among many other honors, he received the 2012 Norman Hudson Memorial Award from the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation for the development and worldwide application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT.
Dr. Srini holds joint appointments with the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Tamil Nadu, India, and the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok. He earned a doctorate in agricultural engineering from Purdue University.
I am delighted that Dr. Srini will lead this important endeavor.
Thank you,
Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor, Texas A&M AgriLife
Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
