News Archive - Wright-Ingraham Institute

NEXUS 4: On Data and Public Trust

June 9, 2026 |Nexus

Who Is All This Data For?

Welcome to the fourth issue of Nexus, WII’s newsletter gathering ideas, articles, and resources at the intersection of land, water, culture, and integrative research.

This issue grows out of our recent online conversation, Data Isn’t Enough: Community Knowledge, Visualization, and the Challenges of Science Communication, featuring Kimberly Fewless of NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Matthew Ross of Colorado State University’s Geospatial Centroid.

Below, you’ll find the recording and full transcript from that conversation, along with additional articles and resources for those who want to go deeper into the themes it raised.

At the center of the conversation was a simple but urgent question: who is all this data for? We are living through a moment where data collection is omnipresent, but there is a growing gap between rigorous science and the communities it serves. This is a relational problem as much as it is a technical one. If data cannot be accessed, read, interpreted, or trusted by the people it concerns, how can they benefit from it? How can they help shape it? And if tools are developed without end users in mind, how useful can they really be?

There is a version of the data problem that can look like a plumbing problem: the pipes are clogged, the formats are incompatible, the portals are hard to navigate. Fix the infrastructure, the thinking goes, and the knowledge will flow. The research and reporting gathered in this issue of Nexus complicates this assumption, approaching the question “who is the data for” through the lenses of infrastructure, policy, and community.

Announcing the 2026 Field Workshop Cohort

May 22, 2026 |Updates

We are proud to introduce the fellows joining us for Field Workshop 2026: Designing for Adaptation in a Time of Prolonged Drought.

This year’s cohort brings together twelve outstanding graduate students and early-career practitioners working across hydrology, law, planning, landscape architecture, communication, environmental science, design, and the arts. Together, they represent a wide range of experiences and approaches, united by a shared interest in land, water, climate adaptation, and community-based practice.

Over the course of three weeks in July, the cohort will travel through Colorado’s San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico, engaging with local practitioners, researchers, farmers, land stewards, and community members. Through field visits, conversations, and collaborative synthesis projects, fellows will explore the ecological, cultural, and political dimensions of adaptation in dryland systems.

Welcome, Jasmine!

May 14, 2026 |Updates

We are delighted to share that Jasmine Singh will be joining the Wright-Ingraham Institute as our new Development Associate.

In this role, Jasmine will help strengthen the systems and relationships that support WII’s fundraising work. Some of you may hear from her in the coming months as she helps with donor communications and the day-to-day development operations that allow our small team to stay connected with the people — like you — who make this work possible.

Jasmine brings experience in nonprofit operations, stakeholder communications, CRM and data management, and project coordination. She previously worked at JUST Capital, where she supported the corporate engagement team, maintaining the complex tracking systems needed to sustain hundreds of strong relationships.

Jasmine also brings a creative and entrepreneurial sensibility. She is founder of the Shared Drafts Project, and will begin a Master of Public Administration at Baruch College’s Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs this fall. She is currently a fellow of Climate Futures Studio’s Climate Storytelling 2075 program.

This was a strong and competitive search with hundreds of applicants, and Jasmine stood out for her combination of organization, warmth, ambition, and practical experience building and maintaining the kinds of systems WII will need as we continue to strengthen our fundraising and development operations.

We are excited for what Jasmine will bring to this role, and are grateful to have her joining us at this important moment for WII.

Into the Field: WII’s 2025-26 Annual Report

May 13, 2026 |Updates

We’re excited to share the Wright-Ingraham Institute’s latest Annual Report, Into The Field. It celebrates a big year of momentum, growth, and field-based work for land and water resilience in the American Southwest and beyond.

Inside, you’ll find updates on our 2026 Field Workshop, Dust-on-Snow Practitioners Network, StudyTank research, and the partners and supporters helping bring this work to life.

Download the annual report here – Annual Report FY25-26 Landscape (PDF)

Welcoming Anna J. L. Grady as President of the Wright-Ingraham Institute

February 3, 2026 |Updates

Today, we are writing to announce an important leadership transition:

Anna J. L. Grady has been appointed President of the Wright-Ingraham Institute Board of Directors.

Anna brings tremendous vision and steady leadership to this role, serving on the board for the past decade, and leading the Institute’s grants program from 2012 to 2024.

Anna writes:

“I am honored to serve as the new President of the Wright-Ingraham Institute. My long-time involvement with the Institute extends as far back as the 1970’s working at the original field station. At that time, concepts such as integrative studies and cross-disciplinary systems thinking were way ahead of their time. Fast forward to 2026 and the challenges facing our globe are vast. Bringing diverse minds together to help solve thorny and complex environmental problems is needed now more than ever before.

With a topnotch staff, astute board, and skilled strategic advisor team, the WII is well positioned to ask the hard questions and seek solutions using innovative approaches. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this amazing organization.”

During her tenure, Catherine helped reestablish WII as a meaningful contributor to integrative studies, and in particular, to applying interdisciplinary methods toward drought resilience strategies in the American Southwest. She also played a pivotal role in shaping StudyTank, which helped crystallize WII’s mission and sharpen our long-term vision. Catherine has overseen the hiring of the Institute’s first two Executive Directors and consistently emphasized the centrality of rigorous, cross-disciplinary inquiry at WII.

Catherine writes:

“It has been my great pleasure to serve the Institute – first as Treasurer-Secretary and then as Board President – since our initial decision to re-start and re-develop the Institute’s programs all these years ago. I, with the rest of the board’s members, all of whom had been part of the original Institute, have worked relentlessly over these years to grow, govern, finance, certify, and discover new ways of practicing integrative studies and place-based research.

Much of this work is now being made manifest in new ways by the Institute’s current Board of Directors, our new President, Anna Grady, and our Executive Director, Tal Beery. That, in my opinion, is more than enough for any Board President to be very happy about.”

All of us at the Institute are profoundly grateful for Catherine’s leadership, her dedication, and her service.

Most importantly, Catherine will remain a key part of the Institute’s leadership as a member of the Board of Directors, and as a Principal Investigator on StudyTank’s Colorado River Basin Project, alongside Frank Miller.

Looking ahead

We will be sharing more soon about the year ahead, including our Field Workshop, StudyTank work, and new partnership development. For now, we want to simply mark this moment: with deep gratitude for Catherine’s leadership, and genuine excitement for Anna’s new role as Board President.

Anna Grady during Working the Llano sin Agua 2025.

More about Anna Grady

Anna Grady is President of the Board of the Wright-Ingraham Institute and Vice President for Operations and Administration at the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF). VCF brings philanthropy and charitable goals together to serve Vermonters in every community. In her role, Anna oversees human resources, administration, and I.T. functions. She is an accomplished leader in Human Resources and Administration, specializing in organizational strategy and development, systems thinking, change management, employee relations, and strategic workforce planning. Anna’s broad experience and pragmatic approach to organizational development strengthens how WII approaches operational decision-making in alignment with our values and culture. Anna lives and works in Vermont.

More about Catherine Ingraham

Catherine Ingraham, Ph.D., is a Full Professor in the Graduate Program of Architecture at Pratt Institute, a program she chaired from 1999–2005. She has also been a Visiting Faculty member at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design since 2016. Catherine earned her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University and was an editor (with Michael Hays and Alicia Kennedy) of the critical journal *Assemblage*. She has lectured internationally and published widely in journals and edited volumes. Her books include *Architecture, Animal, Human* (Routledge, 2006) and *Architecture and the Burdens of Linearity* (Yale University Press, 1998). She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including a Canadian Centre for Architecture Fellowship, Graham Foundation grants, and MacDowell residencies. Catherine co-directs the StudyTank program at WII.

NEXUS 3: On Integration and Innovation – How Do New Ideas Come To Be?

December 11, 2025 |Nexus

How do new ideas emerge, and why do integrated approaches matter?

Innovation rarely appears in isolation; it takes shape through collaboration and at the intersections of disciplines, communities, and forms of knowledge.

These selected articles spotlight true innovation and highlight how integrative knowledge and cross-sector collaboration give birth to new ideas.