M&A hosts AHS intern

Each year, the Tucson chapter of the Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) awards an intern scholarship — named after Leonard Halpenny, who initiated the award — to a deserving UA student. This scholarship provides an opportunity for students to gain some practical experience and exposure to many facets of the water resources industry. Participating employers typically include government agencies, consulting firms, tribes, and municipal water providers. As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the hydrologic community, M&A has been participating in this program since its launch over 20 years ago; in fact, we hired two AHS interns after their service, including Marla Odom, the very first recipient of this award.

In 2016, we hosted Mekha Pereira, a student in the UA’s Hydrology & Water Resources Department, where she is working on a double major in environmental hydrology / water resources and applied mathematics, with a minor in economics. Mekha is on track to complete her B.S. in May 2017; she plans to work for a few years and then return to the UA for her master’s, although she has already started taking graduate-level courses.

Mekha spent about a month at M&A working with Gary Woodard — a particularly good fit given her background in math and Woodard’s specialization in water demand analysis and forecasting. Mekha provided support for various projects that Gary is leading; this work included disaggregating costs for indoor water uses, verifying the efficiency of bead-technology commercial clothes washers, examining trends in pool removal and water demand, and managing large amounts of County data. As a result of this experience, Mekha’s professional interests have broadened to include water policy analysis and econometrics. She also spent part of her internship at Tucson Water, the USGS, and another consulting firm.

Mekha continues to work with us on a part-time basis.

We encourage interested students to apply for the Leonard Halpenny Intern Scholarship.