Ogallala Water

Dr.Porter is a professor and AgriLife Extension agricultural engineering specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock. She is also the AgriLife Extension program leader and Associate Department head of the biological and agricultural engineering department at Texas A&M University, College Station.

Dr. Porter is responsible for developing and implementing research and educational programs on irrigation technologies, water management and quality, and efficient use of water related to crop production. Her primary goal is to develop, adapt and evaluate technologies and practices that support water conservation and mitigate impacts of limited and declining water quality and quantity in agricultural systems.

Dr. Porter promotes water conservation and efficient water use by maximizing impact of applied research and educational resources developed through integrated multi-disciplinary collaborative projects by:

1. promoting irrigation management decision support tools;
2. improving quality and value of agricultural research by improving researchers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of irrigation technologies and BMPs, irrigation scheduling, soil moisture management, and related crop water management concepts; and
3. providing educational resources and opportunities for expanding traditional and emerging audiences.

Selected Publications

Gowda, Prasanna, Terry Howell, Louis Baumhardt, Dana Porter, Thomas Marek, and Vinay Nangia. 2016. A user-friendly interactive tool for estimating reference ET using ASCE Standardized Penman-Monteith Equation). Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 32(3): 383-390.

Porter, Dana, Kevin Wagner, and Victor Gutierrez. 2016. South Texas Irrigation Training Program Manual. Texas Water Resources Institute Publication EM-121. Texas A&M University System, College Station, TX.

Holman, Daniel, Mohan Sridharan, Prasanna Gowda, Dana Porter, Thomas Marek, Terry Howell, Jerry Moorhead. 2014. Gaussian process models for reference ET estimation from alternative meteorological data sources. Journal of Hydrology. 01/2014; 517:28–35.

Moorhead, J.E., Gowda, P., Singh, V.P., Porter, D.O., Marek, T.H., Howell, T.A., Stewart, B. 2015. Identifiying and evaluating a suitable index for agricultural drought monitoring in the Texas High Plains. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. DOI: 10.1111/jawr.12275.

Moorhead, J.E., Gowda, P., Marek, T.H.,Porter, D.O., Howell, T.A., Singh, V.P., Stewart, B. 2014. Use of crop-specific drought indices for determining irrigation demand in the Texas High Plains. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 29(6):905-916.

Porter, Dana, Prasanna Gowda, Thomas Marek, Terry Howell, Jerry Moorhead, and Suat Irmak. 2012. Sensitivity of Grass- and Alfalfa-Reference Evapotranspiration to Weather Station Sensor Accuracy. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 28(4):543-549.

Boyer, J.S., P. Byrne, K.G. Cassman, M. Cooper, D. Delmer, T. Greene, F. Gruis, J. Habben, N. Hausmann, N. Kenny, R. Lafitte, S. Paszkiewicz, D. Porter, A. Schlegel, J. Schussler, T. Setter, J. Shanahan, R.E. Sharp, T.J. Vyn, D. Warner, and Jim Gaffney. 2013. The U.S. drought of 2012 in perspective: A call to action. Global Food Security. Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 139–143.

Porter, Dana. 2008. Best Management Practices to Prevent Groundwater Contamination. Extension Fact Sheet L-5500. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. College Station, TX.