The Stockton DWSC

You have almost learned entirely why on earth I came to Granada. Bear with me, one or two more posts and you'll know it all!

As you may or may not know, when I graduated from Loyola Marymount University in May of 2003, I was heading to Cornell for graduate school. Cornell is in Ithaca, NY aka the middle of nowhere! I went, I tried, I hated, I decided to come home. The DiPalermo girls are just not cut out to living in snowy conditions, just ask Katie who moved to Colorado for a while, or Gina, who tried her hand at a winter in Boston. We come back to California every time. Anyway, when I decided to come back, I still wanted to be a graduate student, so I contacted the professor at UC Davis who I had been in touch with the previous year. I told him I wanted to come back to California, and asked if he had any more projects on Tahoe that needed graduate students. As luck (not sure yet if I would call it luck!) would have it, he needed a graduate student to start in July of 2004 on a new project, but not a Tahoe project. Since Cornell ends in late May, an early July start was perfect. John and I enjoyed another cross country trip and when I got to Davis, I was thrown into this new project. The project was the Stockton project. In August of 2004, and again in August of 2005, month long field studies were conducted in the Stockton DWSC. The data from these studies was meant to calibrate and validate a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model of the Stockton DWSC. The hydrodynamic part, SI3D, was to be completed by Stanford and the water quality part, the creation and calibration, by UC Davis (aka: me!)

After two summers of field work, the calibration was not going anywhere, deadlines loomed. Turns out calibrating the model (using Francisco's model in the Delta where Pete's usually is successful) was harder than we imagined. I was not actively involved in this calibration. I was busy taking classes and earning my masters. But once I was done with my master's research and thesis, I was ready to get going on the creation and calibration of the water quality model. But, here's the trick. It is impossible to write and create and calibrate a water quality model without an accurate description of the hydrodynamics (how the water moves). So, without the calibrated hydrodynamic model, I'm stuck without a project. Not a good thing for a PhD student.

There were a few months during this year (I would say February through June) when I was basically done with my masters that I was close to just throwing in the towel. My PhD research was going no where. In addition, my adviser was very busy with other projects. He is the director of the Tahoe Research Center, and spends half his time in Tahoe, and spends most of his time writing grants and trying to get money. He does very little actual research, the research he does do is at Tahoe, not for the Stockton project. But, he is the "Principal Investigator" for this project, meaning, to the funding agency, he is in charge. If the project doesn't get done, its his name that will be associated with the project. I was tempted to start a whole new project if thats what it would take for me to earn my PhD.

I do not plan to spend my career doing research. Really, I want to teach. My dream job would be at Santa Clara University, but another teaching university where I would have the opportunity to do small research projects and some consulting is my goal. I think that right now, with the knowledge I have, I could teach many engineering courses. But, to get a job at SCU, or LMU or Seattle U, or another Jesuit University or state school, I need a PhD. I was not willing to give up that dream over the stupid Stockton DWSC.

Another thing you should know is that there is a consulting firm in New Jersey that did a similar project to what I am attempting to do. Also, in the meantime, a dissolved oxygen aeration system has been placed in the DWSC. This system pumps pure oxygen into the channel. Will it fix the problem? I'm not convinced, but policy makers and politicians are. Its the easy solution. So, I'm climbing an uphill battle. My adviser, funding agencies and other scientists really have changed their focus from the problem in the Stockton DWSC. They have bigger battles to fight, like Delta Smelt and water shortages and fires. I don't blame them, but I am too invested in the Stockton project to abandon it. Oh, and by the way, Stanford decided to abandon too. Of course, this makes me feel like I've won a small battle. I'm doing something even Standford scientists couldn't handle. ha!