In May 2012, the Philomathia Foundation announced a $1-million gift to McMaster University to establish the Philomathia Foundation Water Project. In addition to providing fellowships and travel scholarships to students studying water-related, the Water Project also offered funding for the university to create a new research chair position for a professor with dual expertise in engineering and global policy development.

This September, the university officially appointed Dr. Dustin Garrick as the first Philomathia Professor in Water Policy and Research. Starting his three-year term in January 2014, Dr. Garrick will lead a collaborative team of faculty, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students as they work in concert with other international water experts to find new solutions to international water problems and related human health issues.

A former research fellow at the University of Oxford and a research associate at Australia National University’s Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Dr. Garrick is an expert in the areas of water policy, climate change adaptation and drought management. He brings more than a decade of experience in water research to McMaster University, including serving as project manager on an award-winning program that integrated climate change data into water resource planning in the Colorado River basin.

You can read more about Dr. Garrick’s appointment in the McMaster University Daily News.