James E AyarsDr Ayars is a retired Research Agricultural Engineer with the USDA-ARS, an irrigation/drainage engineer responsible for developing research on the integrated management of irrigation and drainage systems in arid and semi-arid areas.

Honored by th California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy, he also received multiple awards including long-term membership in Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta and Alpha Epsilon Honor Societies in Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering. He was awarded the Sir Frederick McMaster's Fellowship by CSIRO in Australia, received the USCID Merriam Award for Improved Irrigation and the Royce J. Tipton Award from the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers for his work.

In his 40 year career, he served the research community and agricultural industry in a wide range of offices and committee assignments including extensive experience working on a United Nations Development Project in Uzbekistan to improve irrigation and drainage water management. Read More Read Less