Open Access Sessions

Are you unable to register but are interested in participating? Check out the following activities open to EVERYONE! No registration required! Access to these sessions is available here.

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Lightning Round

Monday, April 19, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EDT Join the Session

We seek to highlight and facilitate discussions on how to empower the voices of underserved and minoritized communities on environmental and water-quality-based issues, in part through an extended session featuring a series of lightning talks from the National Monitoring Community. Lightning round presenters speak up to 10 minutes, sharing their experiences and ideas focused on JEDI issues. The session will be kicked off with a message from Benita Best-Wong, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water.

The real-time lightning round speakers we will feature are:

María Gabriela Huertas Díaz (Estuario San Juan Bay Estuary Program, Puerto Rico)

William Adams (Remote Energy Security Technology Collaborative, Ontario)

Veronica Tangiri (Prince William County Soil and Water Conservation District, Virginia)

Ally Senturk (Surfrider Foundation San Diego County, California)

Casandra Champion and Suidi Hashi (Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Minnesota)

Cynthia Naha (Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico)

Madeline Nyblade (University of Minnesota)

Regional Meet and Greets

Monday, April 19 (time varies by region)

The Regional Meet and Greet is an official convening supported by the National Water Quality Monitoring Council. The conference provides the opportunity to interact with your monitoring colleagues from all over the nation, as well as the opportunity to virtually meet and network with fellow attendees within a smaller geographic footprint. This networking session invites all who work within a respective region (defined by the US EPA Regions for this event) to come together and get to know each other a little bit better and explore collaboration. Are you wondering who is participating from your US EPA Region, USGS Water Science Center, state/local agencies, area monitoring councils, academic institutions, nearby watershed groups, or regional monitoring equipment vendors? Come to this session and find out! The NWQMC wants to encourage connections and foster collaboration with others working near you at the conference and beyond.