Meet the Researcher: Ricardo González-Pinzón, University of New Mexico (continued)

By Catherine Ortega Klett, NM WRRI Program Manager

In 2013, Dr. González-Pinzón received a PhD in water resources engineering from Oregon State University. He also earned an MS in water resources engineering from the National University of Colombia, and a BS in biosystems engineering with an emphasis in water resources, also from the National University of Colombia.

After joining the UNM faculty in 2014, Dr. González-Pinzón, received an NM WRRI grant to estimate catchment-averaged precipitation and evapotranspiration rates in New Mexico (NM WRRI TCR#371). He has also advised several NM WRRI student grant recipients from UNM over the past four years including Cameron Herrington, Vanessa Garayburu, James Fluke, and Betsy Summers.

Dr. González-Pinzón recently noted that NM WRRI student funding contributed to the collection of preliminary data that helped to secure two National Science Foundation grants. Currently he is leading a team of researchers from UNM, University of Colorado (Dr. Michael Gooseff), Colorado School of Mines (Dr. Kamini Singha) and Colorado State University (Dr. Timothy Covino) on a three-year project, Collaborative Research: How do interactions of transport and stoichiometry maximize stream nutrient retention? This research will explore, by both field and modeling methodologies, their hypotheses on the dynamical interactions of sources and sinks of carbon, oxygen, and nutrients in diverse stream compartments, and the contribution this makes to the retention and export of nutrients in stream. The research team will include numerous graduate students.

In a second NSF funded project, Dr. González-Pinzón will work with Dr. David Van Horn from UNM’s Biology Department (Dr. Van Horn himself was an NM WRRI student grant recipient in 2005). This project will monitor water quality parameters and dissolved organic carbon along the Jemez River-Rio Grande continuum.

Congratulations to Dr. González-Pinzón and his students for their success in securing significant support for their research.