Where Are They Now?
Former graduate research assistant (GRA) and research analyst at the WRRC, Aaron Lien, is now serving as the University Consortium Director for the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC) and Assistant Professor of Rangeland Ecology and Adaptive Management at the U of A School of Natural Resources and the Environment. The SW CASC is a collaborative federal-university partnership between the US Geological Survey (USGS) and seven academic institutions from across the US Southwest. (The Southwest region formally comprises the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.) SW CASC focuses on producing actionable science to help resource managers, policy makers, and Native Nations implement climate adaptation solutions.
Dr. Lien worked for the WRRC from 2006 to 2013, first as a GRA, and then as a research analyst, focusing on incentive-based approaches to link human water use with the environment. He states, “My time working at the WRRC was a formative experience. It gave me the opportunity to meet and work with a wide range of stakeholders and rightsholders and introduced me to the complex world of water policy. As the new director of the SW CASC, I hope I have the opportunity to engage with the WRRC on research and outreach more in the future.”
Today, Lien works to solve emerging environmental governance challenges. He is an environmental social scientist with broad training in theories of human behavior and decision making, as well as frameworks for analyzing governance institutions. Lien holds a PhD in Arid Lands Resource Sciences, an MS in Environmental Planning, a Graduate Certificate in Water Policy from the U of A, and a BA in Politics from Willamette University.