One Team, One Mission

54 WATER RESOURCE CENTERS COLLECTIVELY FORM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES FOR WATER RESOURCES, WITH ONE IN EACH U.S. STATE AND TERRITORY. COME MEET OURS.

What the Illinois Water Resources Center Does

The Illinois Water Resources Center works with scientists, water professionals, and communities to address water resource challenges at both the national and state scales. Every year, we award roughly $40,000 to university-based researchers throughout the state and help scientists working on regional issues secure funding through the National Competitive Grants Program.

IWRC is one of 54 programs funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 (WRRA) to promote and support the restoration, conservation, and best management of water resources in the United States and U.S. territories. State and territory programs are administered by the National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR), whose mission includes:

Disseminating research findings and other water resource information to the public

Promoting collaboration between USGS and researchers related to the most pressing water resource research needs across the country

Supporting young scientists who seek careers in water resources

To learn more about the NIWR’s contribution to the WRRA’s aims, you can read their 2024 fact sheet here.

To learn more about IWRC’s contribution to the WRRA’s goals, you can read our 2025 fact sheet here.

MEET OUR TEAM

Yu-Feng Lin

Director

Dr. Yu-Feng Forrest Lin is the Director of the IWRC. Dr. Lin is also a Principal Research Hydrogeologist at the Prairie Research Institute, a Clinical Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a Research Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

He received his B.S. in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from Tamkang University in Taiwan (1993), M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Connecticut (1996), and Ph.D. in Geological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (2002).

Dr. Lin has devoted his efforts to serving professional communities. He is presently the Executive Editor for Groundwater, published by the National Ground Water Association.

Yu-Feng Lin

Director

Dr. Lin has devoted his efforts to serving professional communities. He is presently the Executive Editor for Groundwater, published by the National Ground Water Association.

Amy Weckle

Assistant Director

Amy Weckle has a B.S. in Microbiology and has been with the IWRC since 2018, serving as the Program Manager from 2018-2021, and Assistant Director from 2021-present. As part of her role, she coordinates IWRC activities, including managing information transfer activities and coordinating state and national research programs, proposal development, reporting, and external relations, as assigned by the Director.

Amy Weckle

Assistant Director

Cory Suski

Associate Director

Dr. Cory Suski is the Associate Director of the IWRC. Dr. Suski is also a professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.

He received his B.S. in Environmental Science (Biology) from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada (1995), his MS degree from the University of Illinois (Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences) in 2000, and a PhD from Queen’s University in 2004.

Dr. Suski and his group do work in aquatic conservation, primarily in the area of sustaining fisheries from a number of anthropogenic and natural stressors. He is currently one of the Editors at Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

Susan Krusemark

Editor

Susan Krusemark has an M.A. in English and an M.A. in Communication and began work with the IWRC in 2022. She previously worked at the Illinois State Geological Survey as Managing Scientific Editor, where she coordinated support activities for and tracked the progress of scientific/technical and general audience publications for the Survey. She has been a technical editor since 2001 and a board-certified technical editor since 2011. At the IWRC, she applies her technical editing expertise to all IWRC products, bolstering the impact of IWRC’s communications, and provides support for ongoing program operations.