Friday, April 7
Hancock Auditorium
3:00 p.m.
Lecture title: National Water Model of the United States
Abstract:
In 2016, the NOAA National Weather Service made operational a new National Water Model of the United States. This model simulates and forecasts water flow in 2.7 million stream segments covering 3.2 million miles of streams and rivers of the continental United States. Water flow has become like weather, continually forecast in near real-time and high spatial resolution throughout the nation. Dr. Maidment has led the engagement of the academic community with NOAA in the development of the National Water Model. In this seminar, he will tell the story of how this model came about, what it does, and what its development might mean for the future of water science and management in the United States.
Dr. David R. Maidment is the Hussein M. Alharthy Centennial Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin where he has been on the faculty since 1981. Dr. Maidment is a specialist in surface water hydrology, and in the development of water resource information systems. The American Water Resources presents annually a “David R. Maidment Award for Water Resources Data and Information Systems” to outstanding contributors in that field. In 2016, Dr. Maidment was elected to the National Academy of Engineering “For development of geographic information systems applied to hydrologic processes”. In 2015, he received the J. Mike Howard Lectureship of the Texas Floodplain Management Association. In 2014, he was recognized as Geospatial Scientist of the Year, by Geospatial Media “For contribution to geospatial science as a specialist in surface water hydrology, and in particular in the application of geographic information systems to hydrology”. In 2012, he received the Ray K. Linsley Award from the American Institute of Hydrology “In recognition of his contributions in the field of Surface Water Hydrology”. In 2011, he received the Ven Te Chow Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers “For notable contributions in water resources engineering, hydrology and hydraulic engineering, outstanding service to the profession through application of GIS in surface water and groundwater hydrology, authoring books and research papers in water resources engineering, and mentoring of young engineers.” In 2011, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “For significant and lasting impact on teaching, research and practice in the fields of hydrology and water resource engineering, including the pioneering of geographical information systems applications in hydrology and technologies that have been adopted by national and international institutions”. In 2010, he received the AWRA Award for Water Resources Data and Information Systems, “In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the application of Geographic Information Systems to water resources engineering and sciences.”
The G.V. Loganathan Distinguished Lecture Series was established to honor the contributions of scholarship, instruction and service by Dr. G.V. Loganathan in the area of water resources engineering and in memory of Dr. Loganathan and his students of the Advanced Hydrology class, 2007. G.V. Loganathan was an internationally renowned researcher in the field of engineering hydrology and water resources systems. G.V. joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1982 after completing his Ph.D. degree from the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. G.V. wrote more than 150 peer-reviewed academic publications on a variety of topics including urban stormwater hydrology, drought modeling and low-flow analysis, optimization and decision analysis and drinking-water infrastructure. He received the ASCE Wesley W. Horner Best Paper Award in 1996. He was named the Outstanding Civil Engineer of the Year by the Virginia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2007. G.V. was the five-time recipient of the CEE Faculty Achievement Award; an annual award determined by the CEE student body. He was dedicated to his students; both undergraduate and graduate students. G.V directed 42 graduate students including 8 Ph.D. dissertations. The G.V. Loganathan Memorial Fellowship was established in loving memory and in his honor for graduate students working in G.V.’s area of research. Other scholarships in honor of students of the 2007 Advanced Hydrology class are the Brian Roy Bluhm Memorial Graduate Fellowship for VT BSCE graduates in water resources engineering, the Matthew Gwaltney Memorial Graduate Fellowship for graduate studies in water resources engineering, and the Jeremy Herbstritt Memorial Internship established through the Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation.