Sharon Megdal

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Sharon B. Megdal is Director of The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) and C.W. and Modene Neely Endowed Professor. She is Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science. She serves as Co-Director of The University of Arizona Water, Environmental and Energy Solutions Program, which is funded by the Technology Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) and holds the title Distinguished Outreach Professor.

Her work focuses on water resources management and policy, on which she writes and frequently speaks. She places particular emphasis on how to achieve desired policy objectives in terms of institutional structures and possible changes to them. Current projects include: comparative evaluation of water management, policy and governance in growing, water-scarce regions; meeting the water needs of the environment; water pricing; and transboundary aquifer assessment. Dr. Megdal teaches the multi-disciplinary graduate course Arizona Water Policy. She serves as an elected member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board of Directors, which oversees the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water into the populated central parts of Arizona. Dr. Megdal has served on numerous state boards and commissions and holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Sharon Megdal will be on Sabbatical during the Spring 2012 semester, when she will be working on comparative water policy analysis. She will serve as Lady Davis Visiting Professor at The Hebrew University for the month of March and visit Australia later in the Spring.