Last month, Jay Lund, a distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, wrapped up a lecture on California’s drought with a slide titled, “Resistance is Futile.” It included a list of his predictions about the state’s water crisis, some of which bordered on apocalyptic.

James Nelson entered UC Davis as an undergraduate student in electrical engineering. In his senior year he started an internship at the UC Davis Teaching and Research Winery. This work led to a T.J.