Former WRRC Graduate Assistant Joins UArizona Faculty

This summer, the University of Arizona appointed former WRRC Graduate Assistant, Aaron Lien, to the faculty of the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. The new assistant professor is taking on his responsibilities with gusto. For those who ‘knew him when,’ this achievement is no surprise. Here he reflects for the Weekly Wave on the path that brought him here.

 

I’ll be honest. When I first moved to Tucson in 2006 to begin work on my master’s degree, I never thought I would stay. Having grown up in the damp, mossy woods of western Washington, the desert, while beautiful in its starkness, was just too dry, too dusty, and the trees too small. But southern Arizona – and the University of Arizona – has a way of drawing you in. For an attentive observer, what once seemed desolate actually teams with biodiversity. For a social scientist, the region’s long history of conflict and collaboration over water and rangeland management offers fertile ground for scholarship.

 

Back in 2006, I didn’t know anything about Arizona water policy. That changed quickly when I started working as a graduate assistant at the WRRC. My work focused on the effects of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act after nearly 30 years of implementation. I was hooked. The time I spent there working with Director Sharon Megdal introduced me to policy research and the complexities of policy interpretation and implementation. Since then, these topics have been the core of my research, first as staff at the WRRC, then as a Ph.D. student in the UArizona’s Arid Land Resource Sciences program, and ultimately, 14 years later, in my faculty appointment.

 

While many people at UArizona have helped me through the years, it was my time at the WRRC and working with Sharon that provided the initial spark for a career in research and teaching. Now, as a faculty member, I’m looking forward to developing new collaborations with the WRRC and hope to provide my students with the same inspiration that I benefitted from during my time there.