The Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) was awarded $6.3 million from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to support technical assistance over the next five years. Since 1996, the ITRC has worked in partnership with the Bureau of Reclamation, California-Great Basin Region, to offer technical assistance in researching and implementing state-of-the-art technologies, techniques and education to irrigation/water districts throughout the western United States. This latest renewal of the technical assistance contract will extend the program into 2027. To date, with ITRC Director Stuart Styles as the principal investigator, the ITRC has received more than $22 million in funding that is managed through Cal Poly’s Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education. The technical assistance efforts have resulted in over 10,000 student-hours of supervised work experience annually, and more than 30 student are employed each year. The ITRC was started in 1989 by Charles M. Burt, who serves as chairman of the ITRC. In the photo, students learn how to use flowtrackers to verify flume accuracy — a method of measuring the flow of water.