Todd Caldwell was named the 2010 winner of the Colin Warden Memorial Endowment Award for his paper titled “Spatial structure of hydraulic properties from canopy to interspace in the Mojave Desert". Caldwell’s article was published in Geophysical Research Letters (University of Nevada Press).

Caldwell is a hydrologist and soil scientist specializing in field investigations and numerical modeling associated with near-surface vadose zone hydrology, the characterization and scaling of soils and hydraulic parameters, arid lands restoration, and soil evolution in response to past climate change. He is currently enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) seeking his Ph.D. in the Hydrologic Sciences Program while continuing his professional career at DRI. Caldwell also earned his master’s degree in hydrogeology from UNR.

Todd Caldwell installing a station.

The stations measure hydraulic conductivity.

Todd Caldwell installed data acquisition systems to monitor soil moisture. Theses stations, along with the mini-disk tension infiltrometer, were used to gather high‐resolution measurements of hydraulic conductivity along linear transects radiating from canopies of perennial shrubs common to the Mojave Desert. The equipment was subsequently used to measure infiltration rates for a variety of projects including work for the Army Corp of Engineers to determine aid in rainfall/runoff simulations, for the military to determine impacts of tracked vehicles on soils, and the National Science Foundation pertaining to the ecohydrology of arid lands.

To find out more about the project please visit: Measuring Heterogeneities of Soil Hydraulic Properties from Canopy to Interspace

About the Colin Warden Memorial Endowment

The Colin Warden Memorial Endowment makes an annual award of approximately $1,500 to a graduate student at University of Nevada, Reno or the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Applicants must be involved with a DRI research project or have a DRI faculty member direct his or her graduate research. The endowment was established by the family and friends of Colin Warden after his death in 1991 to honor his longstanding commitment to the environment.