The Alabama Water Institute recently welcomed student Ashley Villegas as an event coordinator intern.
Villegas, a junior at The University of Alabama, joined AWI in the summer of 2023. She is majoring in economics and finance with a minor in public policy. Villegas works under Lanna Nations, AWI’s director of education and outreach, to coordinate events for AWI and CIROH. She also works under Zach Krauss, AWI’s director of research to operations communications.
The education and outreach team’s goal is to effectively train and prepare the next generation of water scientists, while the science communications team works to effectively communicate complex hydrologic topics to a broad audience.
Villegas became involved with AWI to learn about the importance of water research in the community and beyond. Since joining the team, Villegas has discovered an abundance of career opportunities in hydrology.
“Being a part of AWI has helped me realize the importance of hydrology and learn more about its related careers,” she said. “You don’t need to have a specific background in order to be part of water efforts in our community.”
Villegas looks forward to AWI’s expansion of influence and reputation.
“I hope the Alabama Water Institute can increase its popularity around the nation in order to help people better understand water,” Villegas said.