Lynette de Silva is the Associate Director of the Program in Water Conflict Management and Transformation, at Oregon State University. She also teaches courses in water resources management; and water governance and conflict management. She holds a Master Degree in Environmental Geology (with an emphasis in hydrogeology), from Indiana University, Indianapolis; and a Bachelor Degree in Geology, from Brooklyn College, New York. Over the past 15 years she has worked in areas emphasizing water resources and land management practices, this includes working on projects to assist in supporting water conflict prevention and resolution, both regionally and internationally; mitigating flooding in the Red River Basin; investigating and quantifying carbon in soils and various ecosystems in the US northern Great Plains; and identifying sources of soil and groundwater contamination, in Indiana. Her principal areas of interest include water conflict management, integrated watershed management, earth science education and outreach. Lynette volunteers as a mediation practitioner within the Benton County, Oregon court system. Among her primary goals these days are to inspire and enrich the lives of others.