Engineering for precise irrigation is fellowship winner’s interest

Developments in spatial sensing for precise application of water is a key interest of this year’s Irrigation Australia travel fellowship winner Alison McCarthy.

The National Program for Sustainable Irrigation provides $10,000 each year to support the fellowship and Alison’s achievement to become the 2010 travelling fellow was announced at a dinner associated with the recent Irrigation Australia Conference held in Sydney.

An itinerary has been proposed that will concentrate on United States Department of Agriculture irrigation engineering research. This includes studies of the potential for improved plant and soil sensing with high spatial resolution to signal when an irrigation is required for optimum growth and production, which achieving high water use efficiency.

Alison (pictured) is interested in how Australia might gain from US developments of automated control systems that apply irrigation with the aid of such techniques as crop canopy temperature measurement using infrared and advanced real-time soil moisture and temperature sensing.

“My goal is to become actively involved in the practical application of advanced engineering systems and the fellowship provides me with the opportunity to build on knowledge gained during my recently-completed PhD studies at the University of Southern Queensland,” she said. “It will enable me to establish relationships with leading researchers in the field, which will be important in my post-doctoral research that involves field trials of irrigation control systems.”

The travel will take place in March next year, taking in the states of Texas, Montana and Georgia.

Coordinator of the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation, Guy Roth, says Alison is a worthy recipient of the fellowship.

“It is awarded to outstanding individuals who have demonstrated an understanding of the major strategic issues facing irrigation practice and policy and who have demonstrated they can make a significant contribution,” he said. “This fellowship and our summer student research scholarships address the important dimension of human capacity.”

Caption: Alison McCarthy

Citation

Land & Water Australia. 2010. Engineering for precise irrigation is fellowship winner’s interest. [Online] (Updated August 4th, 2010)
Available at: http://lwa.gov.au/node/3761 [Accessed Friday 15th of March 2013 11:19:07 PM ].