Greetings! The end of the calendar year is a common period for self-reflection by individuals and organizations. As I look back while concluding the first year of my two-year term as your American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) President, I’m delighted about the accomplishments of your AIH leadership team during 2021. Our achievements this year, however, are not just a function of what we did during 2021 – they consider the steps taken by AIH over the past few years to address challenges and introduce new perspectives, along with the great work of your leadership team.
We did great things in 2021! Thank you to all who contributed. Here’s a snapshot of our accomplishments:
- Boosted AIH’s membership by 22% compared to 2020 and received 35% more new member applications during 2021 compared to the previous year.
- Held the Institute’s first virtual meet-and-greet event with AIH members.
- Connected our AIH community through in-person Water New Year celebrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Sacramento, California. One of the three co-founders of AIH, Roman Kanivetsky, joined in the Minneapolis event!
- Welcomed our first Hydrologic Technician (HT) to serve as a member of AIH’s leadership team on our Executive Committee (EC).
- Completed a widely popular and informative webinar series on the topic of Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO). Our FIRO series, provided in collaboration with the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), featured our nation’s top experts on FIRO, an innovative strategy for water resources management that leverages use of advanced hydrological and meteorological data.
- Convened a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force composed of AIH members and members from the EC. Stay tuned – you will have an opportunity to learn more and support the important activities our DEI Task Force will be initiating within the next few months.
- Revamped our membership application and database system. Despite the glitches our administration team encountered after the rollout, we’re confident our modernization changes will improve ease of application development by prospective members, application review and processing by our Board of Registration, and provide enhanced member benefits through access of information and content.
- Presented to audiences at professional conferences about AIH and the importance of Professional Hydrologist (PH) certification for hydrologists and HT certification for hydrologic technicians, including: Groundwater Resources Association of California’s (GRAC) Future of Water Conference; Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science’s (CUAHSI) Biennial Colloquium; AWRA’s 2021 Annual conference; and the University of Minnesota’s 2021 Minnesota Water Resources Conference.
- Improved social media presence and member connectivity.
- Coordinated with researchers for the U.S. Department of Labor on development of information on hydrologist and hydrologic technician occupations.
Also, we are nearly complete with revisions and updates to AIH’s Bylaws and a contracting solicitation for AIH examination support services–both scheduled for distribution early in 2022.
Again – Thank you to all who have stepped forward to take on roles to help advance the mission of AIH. Member participation is vital to AIH’s success and we are eager to engage more members in AIH activities. Even if not interested in taking on a leadership role for AIH or getting involved in various subcommittees or groups, we request all our members to be ambassadors for AIH and its certified members. Please contact me or others on our leadership team to learn more about how to get involved.
Sincerely,
Jamil S. Ibrahim PH, PMP, ENV SP
AIH President, 2021-2022