Webinar for Do-It-Yourself, Real-Time, Low-Cost Environmental Monitoring Solutions

This Penn State Water Resources Extension webinar discussed EnviroDIY.org: A Resource for Do-It-Yourself, Real-Time, Low-Cost Environmental Monitoring Solutions. The presenters will be David B. Arscott, Ph.D., Executive Director, and Shannon Hicks, Research Engineer, Stroud Water Research Center.

Miss the webinar? The recording is now available on the Videos page.

Webinar Description

Scientists and educators around the world have been building their own dataloggers and devices using a variety of open source electronics platforms like Arduino®. Here we introduce resources and tools that you can use to build real-time, low-cost data loggers that can form the core of your DIY freshwater or terrestrial monitoring system.

This webinar will introduce attendees to the resources, tutorials, and processes for building a monitoring station that includes a solar-powered data logger connected to radio telemetry that is flexible to connect to a variety of sensors. Examples of commercially available sensors for measuring water depth, temperature, specific conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, precipitation, soil moisture, and soil redox conditions will be shown/discussed. Various deployment options/strategies for stream-side installations will be presented. Participants will be introduced to an option for web-based data capture and live data streaming that can display graphs on custom web pages.

Additionally, participants will be introduced to our EnviroDIY online community where members can share new ideas about open-source hardware and software solutions for observing our environment. EnviroDIY members can showcase their gadgets or describe their projects, ask questions, or follow along with helpful tutorials.

About the Presenters

David Arscott, Ph.D., is Executive Director and Research Scientist at Stroud Water Research Center. He is a stream and river ecologist and has published research on riverine biodiversity, biogeochemistry, floodplain ecology, ecohydrology, and land-water interactions. He has field experiences that range across the U.S. and globally from the European Alps, to the Southern Alps, from the Arctic to the Antarctica, and in Central America. He received his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, his M.S. from the University of New Hampshire, and his B.S. from Central Michigan University. Arscott co-leads WikiWatershed and EnviroDIY.org initiatives with other Stroud Center team members.

Shannon Hicks has been developing, building and deploying environmental sensing devices since she received her B.S. in electrical engineering in 2000. Since Shannon joined the Stroud Center in 2010, her focus has been on developing environmental monitoring solutions using the open-source Arduino electronics platform. She is a co-founder and primary contributor of EnviroDIY.org.