Members

Exploring the structure and function of microbial communities

Ben Livneh
Assistant Professor

The primary research interests of my research group is in quantifying the hydrologic impacts of both climate change and land cover disturbance processes across multiple scales. The scientific community’s understanding of climate change continues to evolve, and so we need a flexible framework—models, observations, and communication—to evolve together with this understanding. The tools we use in my research group to address these challenges involve integrating observations with modeling and statistics, to attribute causes and improve process understanding.

Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
Ph.D., University of Washington, 2012
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Carli Brucker

Carli’s research aims to quantify post-wildfire hydrologic and water quality effects in the U.S. West. Her most recent work focused on a regional-scale analysis of water quality constituent response after wildfires using statistical and machine-learning techniques. Her previous work includes designing and constructing laboratory-scale wildfire and rainfall simulation experiments, as well as publishing an extensive review on the state-of-the-art. This research provided in-depth information on the interactions between key drivers of post-wildfire water quality and supply effects and will ultimately help inform water managers to prepare for and mitigate wildfire impacts.

Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2023
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Nels Bjarke
Post-doctoral Fellow

Nels Bjarke is post-doctoral researcher affiliated with the Western Water Assessment and CIRES. His primary research encompasses evaluating drought of all forms across North America and the sensitivity of the classification of drought to the non-stationarity of the climate. Nels utilizes multiple streams of hydroclimate data to build tools and datasets that improve our understanding of how climate change has historically and will continue to impact surface water availability. Nels has a M.S. in Earth and Planetary Science from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Western Water Assessment (WWA); Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2023
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Justin Pflug
Assistant Research Scientist

Justin is a CIRES affiliate and an Assistant Research Scientist with the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard. Prior to this, Justin was a CIRES Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Water and Climate Research Group, where his research focused on investigating the sensitivity of wildlife habitat estimates to snow modeling decisions. Justin's current research focuses primarily on seasonal snowpack, including research topics focused on improving montane snow estimates using data-driven approaches, and strategies for observing global snow water storage from satellite remote sensing.

University of Maryland Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center and NASA Goddard Hydrological Sciences Laboratory
Ph.D., University of Washington, 2021
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Parthkumar Modi

Parth Modi completed his M.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2020 and is currently a Doctoral Research Assistant in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering department at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has several experiences in land surface modeling (VIC, Noah-MP, National Water Model) and has worked on projects understanding the impacts of climate change on mesoscale hydrological processes and risk assessment of natural hazards including droughts and floods. Currently, his research projects are focused on identifying alternatives to snow-based streamflow predictions particularly during the drought, and understanding how coupled natural and human systems affect regional water economies/trade.

Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

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Jeremy Barroll

Jeremy Barroll is currently pursuing an MS in civil engineering. Jeremy’s research presently focuses on small-scale variability in the prediction of snowpack in mountainous regions using remotely-sensed sea surface temperature data. The goal of this is to increase the predictive accuracy of large lead time water supply forecasting for small watersheds in the Western United States. Jeremy previously received a BS in civil and environmental engineering from UC Berkeley in 2016. Since then, he has worked at an irrigation district in Central California to learn more about the unique water supply and infrastructural challenges facing that region. Jeremy also holds a Professional Engineer license in California.

Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

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Gillian Gallagher

Gillian is a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her current research is focused on the influence of seasonal snowpack on thresholds related to species' habitat in the western United States. Gillian completed her M.S. in Civil Engineering at Purdue University in 2023, and earned a graduate certificate in GIS. Her previous research involved evaluating methods to improve the simulation of urban flooding using hydrologic models. She also graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont in 2020.

Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

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Kaitlyn Bishay

Kaitlyn is pursuing her PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder with a focus in Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. In 2021, she graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Environmental Engineering from The University of Alabama. Her previous experience spans many disciplines, including civil engineering site design, natural hazards research, and the application of engineering principles to public policy development. Her current interests include the relationship between machine learning and physically based hydrologic models as well as the use of remotely sensed data in predicting seasonal water supplies, with a focus on unmonitored basins.

Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

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Melanie Holland
Civil Engineer

Melanie received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. In her graduate studies, Melanie developed and validated monitoring technologies to improve water management and support local policy compliance in California and Colorado. Using a combination of land-surface modeling, in situ groundwater extraction monitoring, and remote sensed data, Melanie’s research focused on developing a groundwater abstraction forecast model to aid agencies in complying with groundwater regulations in the drought-prone western United States.

Bureau of Reclamation (Technical Service Center)
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2023
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Aaron Heldmyer
Hydrologist

Aaron received his B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 2014 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder. During his undergraduate career, he was a member of the McBride Honors Program, studied abroad in Newcastle, Australia, and received an Honors Enrichment Scholarship to intern at TechIDEAS, a software development company in Barcelona, Spain during the summer of 2014. Additionally, he participated in research investigating the effects of tailored, reclaimed water on the irrigation of turfgrass as an undergraduate research assistant. In the summer of 2017 he participated in the National Water Center Summer Institute in Tuscaloosa, AL to develop a statistically-based analytical tool for the National Water Model.

U.S. Geological Survey Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
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Jenna Stewart
Senior Analyst

Jenna received her M.S. degree in Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering in June of 2017--congratulations Jenna! Her M.S. thesis is titled "Multi-algorithm modeling of suspended sediment in steep mountain catchments". Her research focused on developing a physically based hydrologic model to simulate the effects of climate change and land-cover disturbance on water quality and flow rates. Jenna received her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Oregon in 2013. During her undergraduate career, she was a member of the Environmental Leadership Program Stream Stewardship team and completed an honors thesis on the effects of climate change on soil nitrogen storage in Pacific Northwest grasslands.

Bluerisk
M.S., University of Colorado Boulder, 2017
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Leah Bensching

Leah finished her MS in Civil Engineering under Prof. Ben Livneh and Prof. Joe Kasprzyk in December of 2018. Her research includes the application of a hydrologic sediment ensemble model to reservoir sedimentation. Prior to attending University of Colorado, she received her BS in civil engineering at Santa Clara University where she was involved in ASCE and helped develop the engineering peer advising program. She now works as an Assistant Water Resources Engineer at Hazen and Sawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

CIVIL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING

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Andrew Badger
Assistant Research Scientist

Andrew is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Livneh Lab Group. His current research interests and projects range from modeling flood conditions in the Upper Missouri River Basin, analyzing snow-based streamflow prediction methods and coupling satellite observations with modeled products to estimate evaporation from the soil. Additionally, Andrew is interested in advancing the understanding of the relationship between the land-surface and climate system, modeling of agricultural water-use and associate impacts, and investigating how land-surface changes impact the water cycle and exploring the societal impact these changes can have. In addition to his research, Andrew has also been a lecturer in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department te

University of Maryland Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center and NASA Goddard Hydrological Sciences Laboratory
Ph.D., George Mason University, 2015
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Fangfang Yao
Climate Fellow

Fangfang is a postdoctoral fellow in Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Geography from Kansas State University and an M.S. in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research explores the interaction among lakes, climate change and human activities with a primary focus on the terrestrial water cycle, climate and human impacts on natural and manmade lakes, and the environmental impact of dams. Currently, he is combining three decades of high-resolution satellite observations, climate, and hydrologic models, to quantify and attribute lake water storage trends across the globe.

UVA's Environmental Institute
Ph.D. in Geography
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Elsa Culler
Education Trainer

Elsa Culler is interested in the ways in which land and water management decisions interact with the changing climate. Currently her research projects include the impacts of wildfires on the likelihood of future landslides and modeling present and future sediment accumulation in dams. Prior to coming to CU Boulder, she worked on data management and security software and informal engineering education for middle- and high-school students. She earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in 2013.

Earth Lab, NC CASC
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
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Ronnie Abolafia-Rosenzweig
Project Scientist

Ronnie completed his BS in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and is now a Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Colorado Boulder. His current research interests are: assimilating soil moisture to estimate irrigation, developing a continental soil evaporation data set, and creating a remotely sensed ensemble of the terrestrial water balance. Ronnie has worked on land surface modeling and data assimilation with NOAA's Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland in the Summer of 2018 and NASA's Land Information System team in the Summer of 2019.

The National Center of Atmospheric Research
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, 2020
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Michelle O'Donnell

Michelle O’Donnell is a Master’s candidate in Civil Engineering. She graduated from Northeastern University in 2016 with a BS in Environmental Science. While working towards her degree, she worked for the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration in the River Instream Flow Stewards program, USGS in the New England Water Science Center, and in the Coastal Systems Group at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. After graduating, Michelle worked as the Watershed Management Assistant at the Cambridge Water Department, where she monitored water quality and quantity to inform reservoir management decisions. She is a NSF GRFP recipient and her current research investigates how changes in snowpack in the West will impact warm season streamflow.

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Group Alumni