Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) Associate Director Lucas Gregory, Ph.D., was elected the 2025-2026 board president of The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR).
He also serves as the chair of the 2026 UCOWR / National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) Conference, scheduled for June 8-10 in San Antonio, Texas.
UCOWR is an association that brings together academic institutions and affiliates invested in water resources research, education and outreach from across the nation. Any group connected to a university, college or academic institution can be a member.
Their mission is to build connections and address current water resources challenges through sharing expertise, fostering leadership and developing interdisciplinary collaborations.
“UCOWR is a great organization for anyone engaged in water-centric research, education or extension activity,” Gregory said. “It’s full of people working in the same space and is a great place to connect with others and build those relationships that lead to future collaborations.”
Years of involvement
Gregory and other Texas A&M University and TWRI personnel have been working with UCOWR for years, attending conferences and creating connections with other water professionals.
Since 2021, he has served as a board member until his election as president. Now he looks forward to furthering UCOWR’s mission and organizing the upcoming conference.
“Once I was elected as a board member, I learned that Texas had never hosted the annual conference and immediately started working to change that,” Gregory said. “Much of Texas is built around water resources, and we certainly have our fair share of water resource challenges, so what better place to hold the UCOWR conference?”
The 2026 conference in San Antonio will have some “Texas flair,” he mentioned. As the state has experienced rapid population growth and urbanization in recent decades, with even more growth projected in the future, water resources and research have become vital topics.
“An estimated 1,500 people are moving to Texas daily, and none of them are bringing water with them,” Gregory said. “And, much of the water we do have isn’t where the people are. This conference will cover a broad array of water-related topics, many of which address these types of issues.”
Continuing interdisciplinary collaboration
He hopes that the conference sessions and discussions open doors to more cross-disciplinary collaboration opportunities.
“This conference is a great opportunity to present about your work in the water world,” he said. “From engineering and physical sciences to policy and education, this conference has it all. Anyone is welcome to participate in the conference.“
“The conference’s call for abstracts will be open by the end of October, and anyone is welcome to submit an abstract – member or not. And UCOWR always accepts new members. Institutional memberships are quite affordable and grant membership status to all individuals at that institution. And new to UCOWR, is a free student membership option.”
For more information about UCOWR, the upcoming 2026 conference, and membership options, visit ucowr.org.
