The Lincoln Institute's Babbitt Dissertation Fellowship Program assists Ph.D. students at U.S. universities whose research builds on, and contributes to, the integration of land and water policy to advance water sustainability and resilience, particularly in the West.
Administered through the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, the program provides a link between the Institute's educational mission and its research objectives by supporting scholars early in their careers.
2023 Fellows
Jordan Giese
University of Utah, Political Science Department
Uranium Mill Tailings Sites and The Wind River Reservation
Clara Mosso
Colorado State University, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
Wildland-Urban Interface Expansion as a Wicked Problem: Assessing the Use of Stakeholder-informed Ecosystem Services Modelling in Transdisciplinary Approaches
Eric Sigala-Meza
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California (CICESE), Conservation Biology
Potential Urban Heat Island and Energy Consumption Mitigation in Mexicali, BC, Mexico Using Nature-based Solutions
Benjamin Smith
University of Pennsylvania, Real Estate Center/Business Economics and Public Policy
Urban Impacts of Liquid Markets: Water and Housing in Colorado
Simone Williams
University of Arizona, Arid Lands Resource Sciences
Enhancing Assessment of Groundwater Vulnerability and Contamination Risk to Improve Equity-based Policy Outcomes in Arizona
2022 Fellows
Anna Bierbrauer
University of Colorado, Denver, Planning and Landscape Architecture
Are We Turning Our Cities Hot And Dry? Water Conservation, Urban Heat Islands, and Equity in the Arid American West
Marisa Manheim
Arizona State University, School of Sustainability
Incorporating Perceptions in Water Governance: Planning for the Potable Reuse of Wastewater in Arizona
Hana Moidu
University of California, Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Understanding the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Intermittent Streams and their Role as Aquatic Refugia in the Arid West
Zhaocheng Wang
Arizona State University, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment
Monitoring Cropland Response to Water Shortage using Remote Sensing Observations on a Cloud-Computing Platform
2021 Fellows
Jessica Bremner
University of California, Los Angeles, Urban Planning
Regulating Water Access in the Coachella Valley
Natalie Collar
Colorado School of Mines, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Identifying Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Hydrologic Flux Perturbation in Fire-disturbed Ecosystems Across the Conterminous United States
Beatrice Gordon
University of Nevada, Reno, Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences (GPHS)
Socio-Hydrologic Assessment of Agricultural Vulnerability to Changing Snowmelt
Frida Sofía Cital Morales
University of Baja California, Engineering institute, Earth Sciences and Environment
Modeling of Scenarios of Consumptive Water Uses in the Mexicali Valley as a Management Instrument
Jorge Mesías Moreno
Arizona State University, WP Carey Department of Economics
How Water Rights Institutions Affect Water Markets, Land Markets, and Water Access
Eleanor Rauh
Arizona State University, Environmental Engineering
Does Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Exist? Mapping the Co-variability of Agriculture, Environmental Degradation, and Socio-economic Variables in the Colorado River Basin
2020 Fellows
Clint Carney
Utah State University, Environment & Society Department
A Multi-scalar Socio-policy Analysis of Resource Reallocation and Water Security in Twenty-first Century Utah, USA
Kristen Whitney
Arizona State University, School of Earth & Space Exploration
Simulating Hydrologic Responses in the Colorado River to Climate and Land Use Change Using a Data-Infused Land Surface Model
Jongeun You
University of Colorado – Denver, School of Public Affairs
Merging Land Use and Water Management in the Colorado River Basin Through Municipal Comprehensive Master Plans
2019 Fellows
Sonali Abraham
University of California – Los Angeles, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Unpacking the Potential of Outdoor Water Use Efficiency with a Focus on Southern California
Tamee Albrecht
University of Arizona, School of Geography and Development
Transboundary Salinity in the Lower Colorado River Basin: Synergies, Gaps and Opportunities of Agricultural Land and Water Management
Neha Gupta
University of Arizona, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Department
Hydrological and Biogeochemical Investigation of Semi-arid Urban Catchments: Assessing Opportunities and Performance of Green Infrastructure
Jason Mercer
University of Wyoming, Department of Botany
A Glimpse Into the Unknown: Using Lakes to Better Understand Mountain Groundwater Dynamics in Arid Regions
Leslie Sanchez
Tufts University, Agriculture, Food, and the Environment Department
Identifying Economic Determinants and Agricultural Land Use Impacts of Winters Right Adjudication on Native American Reservations in the Western United States
2018 Fellows
Katherine Clifford
University of Colorado – Boulder, Department of Geography
Fugitive Dust: How Dust Escapes Regulation and Its Consequences
Drew Eppehimer
University of Arizona, Arid Lands Resource Sciences
Restoration of Desert Rivers with Treated Wastewater
Gretel Follingstad
University of Colorado – Denver, College of Architecture and Planning
Water Resource Resilience: Reaching Beyond Conservation Towards Adaptation
Christina Leonard
Utah State University, Watershed Sciences Department
Managing Riverine Resources in the Context of Sediment: Predicting Channel Change from Measurements of Sediment Mass Imbalance
Leila Mosleh
University of Maryland - College Park, Environmental Science and Technology Department
Human and Natural System Evaluation to Support Water Policy and Land Management
Elia Maria Tapia Villaseñor
University of Arizona, Arid Lands Resource Sciences Department
Water Resources in the Borderlands of the Colorado River Basin: Climate Uncertainties, Anthropogenic Impacts and Binational Agreements
Philip Womble
Stanford University, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources
Making Water Markets Work: Optimizing Investments in Water Rights for Environmental Flows in Colorado’s Prior Appropriation Water Markets