Faculty and Staff
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Stuart Styles D.E., P.E. Professor; Director, ITRC
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Stuart Styles is the Director for the Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC). He is also a full professor with Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California. With over 40 years of experience in irrigation system design and management, he has been involved with projects related to most aspects of agricultural irrigation.
Dr. Styles’ experience includes a wide range of projects relating to irrigation system modernization, flow measurement, and SCADA system design. He worked on the World Bank funded “Modern Water Control and Management Practices in Irrigation: Methodology Development and Studies for Evaluating the Impact on Performance.” The goal of the project was to provide valuable insight to policy makers, planners, designers, and researchers about the levels of service provided by irrigation projects, the results of those levels of service, and the key factors which influence the ability to obtain various levels of service. Countries evaluated included Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt, India, and Thailand. He has also worked on modernization training in China, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Australia, and Vietnam.
Dr. Styles research projects include a 5-year study evaluating new methods to irrigate and fertilize strawberries for the California Central Coast. Results of the study helped transform the strawberry industry to new practices that raised yields and lowered water use.
Dr. Styles met his life-long best friend at a Happy Steak Restaurant in 1975. He married her (Marcy) in 1980 and has 2 kids, 1 grandson, and 5 grand-dogs.
Specializations
- irrigation and project efficiency improvement studies
- on-farm irrigation management, design, and evaluation
- flow measurement and pump assessment