This virtual program will focus on IIHR’s history of research and engineering on the Mississippi River and an overview of current watershed initiatives the 101-year-old institute is leading today. During part I of this two-part program, climate expert and IIHR Director Gabriele Villarini will introduce IIHR’s history of research and engineering on the Mississippi River. Following this introduction, Augustana College Research Associate Matthew Fockler will share his project, Two Mississippi — a historical and geographic investigation of the Upper Mississippi River since its greatest manmade alteration, the 9-Foot Channel Project. Two Mississippi is an invitation to step into and along the Upper Mississippi River and explore its past, present, and future. Fockler uses repeat photography, archival research, critical GIS mapping, and oral history to examine the dramatic human and ecological landscape changes that have occurred on the Upper Mississippi River since the 9-Foot Channel Project became reality. His Mississippi River research can be previewed at www.two-mississippi.com.