Since 1965, when it was created, the Water Resources Management Program has prepared more than 500 graduates for professional work in water resources planning and management. Many WRM graduates are employed in the public sector with federal agencies, state resource and water agencies, urban and regional planning departments, counties, cities, universities, interstate water authorities, international agencies, and foreign governments. Other WRM graduates are employed in the private sector, primarily with government clients at the local, regional and state levels, and a small number of WRM graduates have gone on to careers in law. In addition, a small percentage of WRM graduates have pursued careers with non-profit organizations. Although WRM is a professional master's program, some graduates have gone on to complete PhD's in other programs and now hold faculty positions.
According to our most recent alumni data, categories of of WRM graduates employment are distributed as follows:
Continuing Education - 2.0%
Faculty Position - 5.2%
Government - 34.8%
Non-Profit/NGO - 4.7%
Other - 18.5%
Includes retired, homemaker, self employed, etc.
Private Industry - 29.9%
University Staff - 4.9%
The tables below show a sampling of the types of positions that WRM graduates have held and contain data from the WRM alumni directory (self-reported by alumni; names, addresses withheld) for alumni who graduated between 1970 and 2005. The information is sorted according to the type of employer (eg., federal, state agencies, private sector, etc.) and may include entry through senior-level positions. The complete alumni directory (hard copy) is available in the Nelson Institute Academic Programs Office.
| Position | Employer (City, State) |
|---|---|
| Professor | U of So Florida (Tampa, FL) |
| Professor | Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina, Brazil) |
| Professor | University of Colorado (Denver, CO) |
| Professor in Wetland Research | NC State U, Dept. of Soil Sci (Raleigh, NC) |
| Professor of Envir./Glacial Geology | UW-Oshkosh (Oshkosh, WI) |
| Professor | Geography Dept., Darthmouth College (Hanover, NH) |
| Adjunct (part-time) Professor | Cardinal Stritch University (Milwaukee, WI) |
| Asst. Prof, Inst. for Envir. Studies | Univ. of Illinois-Urbana (Urbana, IL) |
| Position | Employer (City, State) |
|---|---|
| Program & Planning Analyst | WI DATCP (Madison, WI) |
| Program Analysis Officer | EPA, Region 5 (Chicago, IL) |
| Proj. Mgr. Hay River Priority Watershed | Dunn County (Menomonie, WI) |
| Project Administrator | Met. Sewerage Dist. (Milwaukee, WI) |
| Project Manager | U.S. Bureau of Reclaimation (Boise, ID) |
| Project Manager | US Army Corps of Engineers (St. Paul, MN) |
| Project Officer | Embassy of Switzerland (Bangkok, Thailand) |
| Public Utility Rate Analyst | Public Service Comm. of WI (Madison, WI) |
| Public Works Planner, Plng. Sect. | Arlington County Dept. of Public Works (Bethesda, MD) |
| Rail Coordinator | DOT (Madison, WI) |
| Regional Groundwater Specialist | DNR-Division of Waters (Rochester, MN) |
| Regulatory Branch, Project Manager | Army Corps of Engineers (Portland, OR) |
| Regulatory Specialist - Senior | WDHFS (Madison, WI) |
| Resource Consultant | Jefferson Cty Land & Water Conservation Dept (Jefferson, WI) |
| Section Leader, Envir. Compliance | Los Alamos Nat'l Lab (Lakewood, CO) |
| Senior Planner | State of Maine, Planning Office (North Leeds, ME) |
| Senior Project Manager | Great Lakes Commission (Ann Arbor, MI) |
| Senior Project Manager | Canada Center for Mineral & Energy Tech. (Ottawa, Canada) |
| Senior Water Res. Planner | WI DNR (Madison, WI) |
| Senior Wetland Specialist | MO Depart of Trans (Jefferson City, MO) |
| Shoreline & CZM Planner | WA Dept of Ecology-Shoreline & Coastal Mngmt (Bellevue, WA) |
| Soil Conservationist | USDA, Soil Conservation Service (Eureka, CA) |
| Solid Waste Engineer | Dane County Public Works (Madison, WI) |
| Sr Water Resources Coordinator | Oregon Water Resources Depart (Salem, OR) |
| Assistant Professor | University of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA) |
| State Rep. Dist #43 | Iowa General Assembly (Mt. Vernon, IA) |
| Supervisory Ecologist | US Army Corps of Engineers (St Paul, MN) |
| Supervisory Hydrologist | U.S. Geol. Survey (Madison, WI) |
| Supervisory Hydrologist | US Geological Survey (Mounds View, MN) |
| Supervisory Soil Scientist | Soil Cons. Serv., USDA (Keshena, WI) |
| Technical Manager for Habitat Projects | US Army Corps of Eningeers (Rock Island, IL) |
| Water Quality Biologist | WI DNR (Eau Cliare, WI) |
| Water Quality Division Administration | Oregon Depart of Environ Quality (Portland, OR) |
| Water Quality Planner | WI DNR (Madison, WI) |
| Water Quality Specialist | Colorado Department of Transportation (Denver, CO) |
| Water Quality Specialist | Lake County (IL) Env. Health Dept (Waukegan, IL) |
| Water Resource Specialist | City of Madison (Madison, WI) |
| Water Resources Planner | U.S. EPA (Boston, MA) |
| Water Resources Specialist | Lac du Flambeau Trip, Natural Resources Dept (Lac du Flambeau, WI) |
| Water Resources Specialist | WI DNR, Bureau Water Res. Mgmt. (Madison, WI) |
| Water Supply Specialist-Water Resources | WI DNR (Madison, WI) |
| Watershed Planner | Lake County Stormwater Management Commission (Libertyville, IL) |
| Wetland Monitoring Coordinator | WI DNR (Madison, WI) |
| Wetlands Ecologist, Water Regulation | WI DNR (Madison, WI) |
| Wildlife Biologist | Utah State Division of Wildlife Resources (Salt Lake City, UT) |
| Wildlife Technician | MN DNR (Middle River, MN) |
| Position | Employer (City, State) |
|---|---|
| Senior Director for Watershed Programs | American Rivers-Washington DC (Washington, DC) |
| Senior Engineer | Atlanta Regional Commission (Atlanta, GA) |
| Senior Environmental Engineer | Water Quality Service (Oklahoma City, OK) |
| Technical Director | Water Quality Assoc. (Lisle, IL) |
| Vice President, Organiz. Devpmt. | The Wildnerness Society (Washington, DC) |
| Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator | Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership (Portland OR) |
| Watershed Coordinator | North Santiam Watershed (Stayton, OR) |
| Position | Employer (City, State) |
|---|---|
| Purchasing Manager | Valspar Corporation (Minneapolis, MN) |
| Regional Sales Manager | Sentry Equipment Corp. (Oconomowoc, WI) |
| Self-Employed | Environmental Engineering Consultant (Memphis, TN) |
| Senior Consultant | GeoInsight, Inc (Cheshire, CT) |
| Senior Consultant | Jordan, Jones & Goulding, Inc. (Autlan, Mexico) |
| Sneior Consultant-Hydrogeologist | Tech Law, Inc (Minneapolis, MN) |
| Senior Environmental Scientist | Natural Resources Consulting Inc (Middleton, WI) |
| Senior Hydrogeologist | Miller Engineering & Testing, Inc. (Manchester, NH) |
| Senior Hydrogeologist | Warzyn Inc. (Madison, WI) |
| Senior Hydrogeologist/Associate | Dames and Moore (Santa Barbara, CA) |
| Senior Planner | Lehman & Getz Engineering, P.C. (Warwick, NY) |
| Senior Program Manager | Environmental Chemical Corporation (Seattle, WA) |
| Senior Program Officer | The World Bank (Washington, DC) |
| Senior Project Manager | Mead and Hunt, Inc. (Madison, WI) |
| Senior Project Manager | Woodlot Alternatives (Topsham, ME) |
| Senior Project Scientist | SCS Engineers (Cincinnati, OH) |
| Senior Project Scientist | URS Corporation (Santa Ana, CA) |
| Senior Scientist | Science Application Intl. Corp. (McLean, VA) |
| Senior Water Res. Engr. | Harza Engr. Co. (Denver, CO) |
| Software QA Engineer | Philips Medical Systems (Madison, WI) |
| Sr Project Engineer/Associate | Yaggy Colby Associates (Rochester, MN) |
| Sr Vice President | Levine Fricke, Inc (Emeryville, CA) |
| Sr. Environmental Scientist | Lu Engineers (Penfield, NY) |
| Sr. Geological Advisor | Occidental Int. (Bakersfield, CA) |
| Sr. Water Resources Scientist | URS (Denver, CO) |
| Staff Hydrologist | Geomatrix Consultants (Denver, CO) |
| Technical Director | General Mills (Minneapolis, MN) |
| Vice Pres. Mngr of WI Operations | Woodward-Clyde Consultants (Milwaukee, WI) |
| Vice Pres./Principal Hydrogeologist | Gaynor Assoc. (Cortland, NY) |
| Vice President | Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (Cambridge, MA) |
| Vice President | Dunn Corporation (Charlotte, NC) |
| Vice President | Nathan D. Maier, Consult. Engrs. (Dallas, TX) |
| Vice President | PES Environmental, Inc. (Novata, CA) |
| Vice President of Ecological Design | North American Wetland Engineering (White Bear Lake, MN) |
| Vice President, Aquatic Ecologist | Chadwick Ecological Consultants, Inc (Littleton, CO) |
| Vice President, Northern Region | RMT Inc. (Madison, WI) |
| Vice President/Principal Consultant | Delta Environmental Consultants (St. Paul, MN) |
| Vice President-Principal Hydrogeologist | Hydrologic Consultants, Inc. (Lakewood, CO) |
| Water Resource Engineer | Barr Engineering (Edina, MN) |
| Water Resource Specialist | Ecology and Envir., Inc. (San Francisco, CA) |
| Water Resources Dept. Head | RUST Environment and Infrastructure (Milwaukee, WI) |
| Water Supply Engineer | Foth & Van Dyke (Green Bay, WI) |
| Position | Employer (City, State) |
|---|---|
| Natural Res. Mgmt. Program | Simon Fraser Univ. (Burnaby, Canada) |
| Nursing Assistant | UW Hospital and Clinics (Madison, WI) |
| Program Coordinator | Au Sable Institute of the Environment (Coupeville, WA) |
| Research Geologist | Indiana Geologic Survey (Bloomington, IN) |
| Research Program Manager | UW-Madison Preventive Med./State Div. of Health (Madison, WI) |
| Research Specialist | Department of Biological Systems Engineering, UW-Madison (Madison, WI) |
| Water Resource Specialist | Univ of Vermont-Extension (Berlin, VT) |
| Environ Teaching Assoc | Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) |