Developing Methods and Practices to Increase Water Efficiency and Improve Productivity
Dr. James E. Ayars Agricultural Engineer   Dr. Ayars conducts research on the integrated management of irrigation and drainage systems in arid irrigated areas. He has characterized crop water use from shallow ground water as a function of water table depth and salinity. He is currently using lysimeters to develop water requirements and crop coefficients for horticultural crops (peppers, garlic, lettuce) grown in saline soils.	Dr. Dong Wang Research Leader/Soil Scientist   Dr. Wang conducted field and modeling research on effects of irrigation methods on crop root water and chemical update, water and solute movement in agricultural soils, and assessment of evaporation and plant transpiration using conventional and remote sensing techniques.  His recent research interest is to quantify water requirement of horticultural crops (peaches) using thermal infrared canopy temperature measurements.