Home - Wright-Ingraham Institute

Field Workshop 2026

Applications are open until January 22 at 11:59 pm MT.
Visit our education page for details and to apply.

About
- Vision
- Our Story
- Our Team
- News
- Press
Research
- Nexus of Land and Water
- Drought Interfaces
Education
Impact
- Events
- Grants
Donate

Building Knowledge Through Integrated Studies

Sign up for our newsletter

About
- Vision
- Our Story
- Our Team
- News
- Press
Research
- Nexus of Land and Water
- Drought Interfaces
Education
Impact
- Events
- Grants
Donate

Wright-Ingraham Institute

The new year has arrived with no shortage of compl

The new year has arrived with no shortage of complexity and uncertainty. We’re feeling it here at the Wright-Ingraham Institute, and it only reinforces why this work matters.

Training interdisciplinary, integrative thinkers and problem solvers feels more urgent than ever. With that in mind, we’ve extended the application deadline for our upcoming Field Workshop: Designing for Adaptation in a Time of Prolonged Drought.

🗓 New deadline: January 22 at 11:59 pm MT

If this program has been on your mind, we hope this extra time helps! Visit our website for the application, program overview, FAQ, and a recording of our recent Info Session + Q&A.

. 🌊 Interested in the intersection of land, water,

.
🌊 Interested in the intersection of land, water, and culture?
🌱 Graduate student or early-career professional?
🤝 Eager to work across disciplines and perspectives?

Apply to Field Workshop 2026: Designing for Adaptation in a Time of Prolonged Drought. This three-week, immersive fellowship brings together an interdisciplinary cohort for field-based learning in the San Luis Valley and Taos Plateau, working alongside scientists, land stewards, farmers, and community partners on real, place-based challenges.

🗓️ Applications close January 15
🔗 Link in bio to apply

(Photos from Field Stations 2022, Rio Grande and San Juan Watershed)

As the year comes to a close, we want to say thank

As the year comes to a close, we want to say thank you.

This year has asked a lot of all of us. Across the places where we work, drought pressures did not let up. Land use debates remained complicated and intractable. Funding and the political landscape kept shifting under our feet.

2025 reminded us that the challenge isn’t a lack of information, it’s building shared understanding in places shaped by uncertainty, drought, and change. As we marked 55 years of Wright-Ingraham Institute, we recommitted to sustained, place-based work rooted in relationships, care, and long-term thinking.

We deepened our work in the San Luis Valley and Rio Grande, launched Field Workshop 2026, released the Dust-on-Snow publication, advanced StudyTank research across the Colorado River Basin, and grew our community of advisors, partners, and supporters.

None of this happens alone. We’re deeply grateful to everyone whose work continues to inspire and inform our own.

Wishing you rest over the holidays and steadiness in the year ahead.
— The Wright-Ingraham Institute Team
Tal, Frida, Dylan

#IntegrativeStudies #PlaceBasedLearning #LongTermThinking #WaterAndLand #ClimateWork #Grateful

NEXUS issue 3: On Integration and Innovation - now

NEXUS issue 3: On Integration and Innovation - now out! Follow link in bio to read and to sign up for future issues.

We are kicking off Giving Tuesday a day early (is

We are kicking off Giving Tuesday a day early (is Giving Monday a thing yet?). Our board has stepped up with a special match: from right now through December 14, every gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $5,000.

Your support will power our 2026 Field Workshop and help grow a new generation of environmental resilience leaders who can bridge disciplines and perspectives. This kind of leadership is needed now more than ever, and we truly cannot do it without you.

✨ Give now and double your gift -> Link in bio

If you’re considering applying to Field Workshop 2

If you’re considering applying to Field Workshop 2026 - or know someone who might be a strong fit - join our virtual Info Session on December 17!

We’ll share an overview of the three-week program along the Rio Grande, including curriculum, field sites, expectations, and the application process, followed by a Q&A.

📅 December 17
⏰ 12pm MT / 2pm ET
🔗 Registration link in bio

We hope you’ll join us - and help share this opportunity within your networks.

Starting today: We’re raising $30,000 by Dec 31 to

Starting today: We’re raising $30,000 by Dec 31 to support the 2026 Field Workshop, our flagship program training the next generation of environmental leaders.

Our campaign, Fund a Fellow, ensures program costs aren’t a barrier for participants in this transformative three-week fellowship along the Rio Grande.

The Field Workshop brings together scientists, artists, designers, and community leaders to work with farmers, ranchers, and water managers across the San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico - co-designing practical strategies rooted in place.

Throughout the campaign, we will be celebrating the impact our alumni have made on the landscapes that sustain us all. Because the impact is clear: this program changes lives… and it changes systems. Your contribution makes this possible.

Every gift brings us closer to funding 16 fellows for 2026!

👉 Donate today and help us Fund a Fellow. Link in bio

Last month we gathered online during #NYCClimateWe

Last month we gathered online during #NYCClimateWeek to engage with Thinking Through Soil - a conversation about what it means to learn from and work with the ground beneath our feet.

Researcher Seth Denizen shared insights from his book “Thinking Through Soil” (Harvard University Press, 2025), co-authored with Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich, reflecting on how soil holds both ecological and social relations, while artist Brooke Singer responded with stories from her soil-based “Carbon Sponge” collaborations in the Hudson Valley, exploring the tensions between regenerative agriculture, local economies, and global systems of extraction.

Together, they invited us to consider soil not just as a material substrate, but as a living record of a planet in transition, and a site where questions of care, equity, politics, economics, and environmental justice take root. 🌱

Watch this 1-minute excerpt, and see the full talk at the link in bio.
 #ClimateWeekNYC #ThinkingThroughSoil #SoilJustice #RegenerativeAg #EnvironmentalArt #CollaborativeResearch

Applications are now open for Field Workshop 2026!

Applications are now open for Field Workshop 2026!

📅 July 6–27, 2026
📍 San Luis Valley & Taos Plateau

The Wright-Ingraham Institute’s Field Workshop is a three-week immersive fellowship for graduate students and early-career professionals in science, design, policy, the arts, and beyond.

Fellows will travel along the Rio Grande - from Colorado’s San Luis Valley into New Mexico’s Taos Plateau - learning directly with regional partners and co-developing projects that respond to urgent questions of land, water, and culture in a time of prolonged drought.

Applications due January 15, 2026
→ Link in bio to apply

(Photos from Field Stations 2022)
#FieldWorkshop2026 #RioGrande #ClimateResilience #Adaptation #InterdisciplinaryLearning #IntegrativeStudies

We are very excited to take part in Climate Week N

We are very excited to take part in Climate Week NYC, with opportunities to learn, connect, and imagine new responses to the challenges of our time. If you’ll be in the city or joining virtually, we’d love to see you.

✨ Sept 25 | 12 PM EST | Online
Thinking Through Soil - Lunchtime webinar with Seth Denizen (WII collaborator) on his new book (Harvard University Press, 2025), co-authored with Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich. Artist Brooke Singer will respond, followed by discussion and Q&A.

✨ Sept 25 | 6:15–8 PM | Pratt Institute
Speaking of Environments - Evening panel convened by WII Board Chair Catherine Ingraham with Jing Liu, Greg Lynn, Michael Osman, Meredith TenHoor, and Marion Weiss, on how design disciplines are addressing today’s environmental challenges.

✨ On view through October | Governors Island
Works on Water 2025 Triennial - Public art on and with water, responding to the climate crisis, featuring new works by WII Director of Research Dylan Gauthier (as part of the collective Mare Liberum.)

Will you be at Climate Week NYC? Let us know, we’d love to connect.

🔗 Links in bio for event details.

Our second issue of our quarterly newsletter NEXUS

Our second issue of our quarterly newsletter NEXUS is now out! This one is on interdisciplinary practice.

Link in bio ✨

Join us during New York City Climate Week for a 60

Join us during New York City Climate Week for a 60-minute lunchtime webinar exploring the challenges and possibilities of interdisciplinary environmental work through the lens of soil.

Researcher and Wright-Ingraham Institute collaborator Seth Denizen will present ideas from his new book Thinking Through Soil (Harvard University Press, 2025), co-authored with Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich, which argues that soil is not only critical for agriculture and climate resilience, but also a site of political possibility where social relations and our relationship to toxicity and health are renegotiated through soil care.

Artist and researcher Brooke Singer will respond, drawing on her work with soil-based carbon farming and collaborative environmental science. The session concludes with a moderated conversation and audience Q&A.

Thursday, September 25, 12 pm EST
Link in bio for registration.

#ClimateWeekNYC #SoilCare #EnvironmentalScience #ClimateResilience #ThinkingThroughSoil

🎉 Big news! 🎉 Dr. Jake Kurzweil is joining the Wri

🎉 Big news! 🎉 Dr. Jake Kurzweil is joining the Wright-Ingraham Institute’s Board of Directors!

Jake is a brilliant ecohydrologist working at the intersection of water, climate, and community in the American Southwest. He’s helped shape WII’s programming for years - from teaching at our 2022 Field Station to co-leading the Nexus of Land and Water initiative and symposium in Cortez.

His deep knowledge, regional perspective, and leadership are a huge asset to our mission. This marks a major milestone as we expand our board to nine members by 2028.

Welcome, Jake!

We’re excited to announce the Wright-Ingraham Inst

We’re excited to announce the Wright-Ingraham Institute’s inaugural cohort of Strategic Advisors.

This exceptional group of professionals brings expertise in environmental science, architecture, design, policy, innovation, and education. Each has demonstrated a deep commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and bold thinking. Together, they will help guide the Institute’s evolving program direction, foster meaningful connections, and support our continued organizational growth.

🌱 2025–2026 Strategic Advisors 🌱

Brendan Doyle – Proprietor, PLANTERRA Landscape Planning and Design; Former Strategic Advisor, US Environmental Protection Agency

Christine F. Ingraham – Principal, Fletcher Cameron Design

Dan Caligor – Founder & President, Business Advisory Network

Darya Shaikh – Partner, Leaders’ Quest

Etay Zwick – Founder and Principal, Attuned Futures

Hila Shamon, PhD – Deputy Executive Director of Science and Conservation, Duke Farms

Joshua Moses – The Spielman Professor in the Social Sciences and Chair of Environmental Studies, Haverford College; Faculty Director for the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship; Co-founder, Poetry Clinic

Kevin Bone, FAIA – Architect, Educator & Founding Principal, Bone/Levine Architects

Ray Rasker, PhD – Senior Fellow, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

S. McKenzie Skiles, PhD – Associate Professor & Snow HydRO Lab Director, University of Utah

Will Rogers – President Emeritus, Trust for Public Land

We’re honored to welcome this cohort and look forward to the impact their insight and leadership will bring to WII’s work. 💫

Today we celebrate what would have been the 103rd

Today we celebrate what would have been the 103rd birthday of our founder, Elizabeth Wright Ingraham (1921–2013).

A fiercely independent architect and environmental visionary, Elizabeth raised four children while maintaining a thriving architectural practice. In 1970, she founded the Wright-Ingraham Institute to explore the relationship between humans and land, science and design, policy and place. Ever curious and drawn to younger generations’ ideas, she was an early pioneer of environmentally responsive architectural practices and integrative education. The Institute became her way of making passion concrete, an invitation to others to ask better questions and imagine new ways of living. She was, in every sense, a world-builder.

Her legacy lives on in every program we host, every landscape we learn from, and every person we inspire to think across disciplines.

Happy birthday, Liz! 🎈

Watch full video - link in bio

We're still soaring from our amazing trip to the S

We're still soaring from our amazing trip to the San Luis Valley this past week, where we gathered with farmers, ranchers, water protectors, advocates, scientists, students, and community leaders for the Regenerative Ag Summit presented with our support by CSU Extension and the Conejos County Conservation District.

Over two days of site visits, shared meals, deep conversation, and collective dreaming, we explored the interconnected challenges and opportunities facing this extraordinary high desert region - from water scarcity to land access to sustainable agriculture to community representation to food sovereignty. Huge thanks to our local partners and presenters for your generosity, wisdom, and hospitality. We returned home inspired, humbled, and energized to continue building networks of care and knowledge across place.

Stay tuned for more reflections and outcomes from this gathering - this is only the beginning.

#wrightingrahaminstitute #sanluisvalley #regenerativeagriculture #watersovereignty #communityscience #fieldworkshops #rangeschool

ICYMI! 🌾💧 Water, Land, and Life in the San Luis V

ICYMI!
🌾💧 Water, Land, and Life in the San Luis Valley 💧🌾
What does it take to grow food — and protect ecosystems — in one of the most water-stressed agricultural regions of the West? Last week, we hosted a stimulating webinar exploring just that. With insights from water manager Heather Dutton, ag systems specialist Madeline Wilson, and rancher Angie Mestas, we looked at the San Luis Valley’s twin crises of groundwater depletion and land loss — and the inspiring community-led efforts to respond through regenerative practices, dryland innovation, and collaborative conservation.
What we learned:
— Groundwater is running out.
— Land is drying up.
— Communities are responding with creativity, care, and urgency.
This conversation sets the stage for Working the Llano Sin Agua — our regenerative ag summit and range school taking place in Antonito, CO this week (July 10–11).
Watch the full talk + learn more at wright-ingraham.org or through the links in our bio.

#SanLuisValley #WaterCrisis #RegenerativeAg #DrylandFarming #CollaborativeConservation #LlanoSinAgua

✨Five days left!✨ We’re just a few gifts away fro

✨Five days left!✨

We’re just a few gifts away from reaching our goal of 55 individual donors by June 30. This campaign isn’t about big numbers - it’s about showing up, together, for work that integrates disciplines and communities to chart new paths through complex problems.

If you haven’t yet made a gift, now is the time.

This campaign celebrates the 55th anniversary of our founding in 1970. But more importantly, it marks the beginning of a new phase for the Wright-Ingraham Institute.

We’re reimagining what WII can be in this moment - building programs that help communities respond and adapt to environmental change through collaboration and creativity.

Your support now means we can take our next steps, confident that our community is behind us. 🌱

Link to give in bio

Water, Land, and Life: Adaptation and Regeneration

Water, Land, and Life: Adaptation and Regeneration in the San Luis Valley - A primer for researchers, designers, and collaborators
Presenters: Madeline Wilson, Heather Dutton

Join us for a talk on Water, Land, and Life: Adaptation and Regeneration in the San Luis Valley. Presented as part of the Wright-Ingraham Institute’s ongoing commitment to fostering systems-level thinking and design for ecological and cultural resilience, this webinar explores the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado as a living case study in complex, interdependent systems.

Madeline Wilson and Heather Dutton, two leading water experts from the region, will present a primer on the ecological conditions, agricultural systems, cultural histories, legal frameworks, and current and future challenges taking shape in the region. The program will explore how the Valley’s overlapping systems present opportunities for adaptation, conservation, and long-term sustainability.

The San Luis Valley (SLV) in Southern Colorado is a region of striking beauty and ecological and economic complexity. A vast, high-elevation desert, the Valley has sustained agriculture for centuries, with evidence suggesting Native American practices dating back thousands of years. While the Valley represents just 0.01% of the state’s population, it also accounts for 39% of Colorado’s its agricultural output, making productive use of a mosaic of multi-use, private, and public (state and federal) lands. At this time, mounting water scarcity presents challenges to continued agricultural production and threatens a way of life for generations of families.
🗓️ Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2025
🕓 Time: 12 pm MST, 2 pm EST
🔗 Link in bio to register for the Zoom
🌐 Hosted by Wright-Ingraham Institute
📍 Co-presented by Conejos County Conservation District + CSU SLV Extension
#SanLuisValley #WaterJustice #ColoradoAg #EcologicalDesign #CulturalResilience #SystemsThinking #SLV #Agroecology #WrightIngraham #ClimateAndCulture #IntegrativeStudies #InterdisciplinaryInquiry #EnvironmentalLeadership

We are halfway through our midyear campaign, and t

We are halfway through our midyear campaign, and the response has been deeply encouraging.

If you haven’t given yet, we still need your support to reach our goal of 55 individual gifts by June 30. This campaign is about participation, not about the size of gifts, so all donations make a big difference.

Thank you to everyone who has already stepped up to support this next chapter of the Wright-Ingraham Institute.

If you haven’t yet made a gift, now’s a perfect time. Your support at any level helps us sustain the work and expand its reach. 🍃

🔗 Link in bio to give.

#wrightingrahaminstitute #environmentalleadership #integrativestudies #environmentaleducation #interdisciplinaryinquiry

We are a small non-profit registered as a 501c3 in Colorado with our head office located in New York. We undertake field work in both the American West, and elsewhere.

Contact Us

Wright-Ingraham Institute

123 7th Avenue #256

Brooklyn, NY 11215

admin@wright-ingraham.org

Stay in touch with the Wright-Ingraham Institute. Sign up to receive occasional email updates about programs, grants, events, and activities.

Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

About
Research
Education
Events
Grants
Donate