December 9, 2025
Congratulations to Vianey Rueda, a fourth-year PhD student at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), who has been selected to participate in the 2026 Transect of the Americas Pathways Program, a National Science Foundation-funded initiative led by Washington State University and the University of New Mexico.
This competitive program pairs graduate students with research sites and mentors across South America to investigate interdisciplinary challenges in headwater-dependent systems. As part of the program, Rueda will spend two weeks in a training school in Cuenca, Ecuador, where participants will develop and integrate interdisciplinary, international and inter-organizational research skills. Following this intensive training, she will travel to Mendoza, Argentina, to work with her Pathways mentor, Elma Montaña. Over the course of three months, Rueda will conduct a comparative study of the Rio Grande and the Mendoza River, examining how narratives influence adaptation planning in socio-hydrological systems. She will begin her fellowship in May 2026.
Rueda’s research is focused on the 1944 Water Treaty between the United States and Mexico and uses an interdisciplinary lens to find ways in which the Treaty can be modernized to better address contemporary challenges. As part of her research, Rueda visits different areas of the Rio Grande. She aspires to have a career in policy, either through advising or a political career of her own.