Research by Theodore A. Endreny

Funded Research

• Cypriot Urban Stormwater Engineering for Conservation, $45,000 Cyprus Fulbright Commission sponsored sabbatical.
  1. Climate change may have reduced Cypriot annual rainfall by 8%, further challenging sustainable river allocations to industrial, drinking water and geo-ecological functions.
  2. This research involved analysis of rainfall recharge rates to the Five Finger Mountain range through integrated terrain models, weather data, and aerial actual evaporation equations for design of qanat drinking water systems.
  3. This research also involved frequency analysis of 15 to 35 yrs of annual maximum rainfall data from 42 gages for construction of intensity-duration-frequency equations that will predict high intensity rains for engineering design.
  4. Teaching efforts that occurred in coordination with the research and included curriculum development, technical lectures, and class field exercises in Greek and Turkish Cypriot universities.
  5. Data may involve remotely sensed products as well as climate and weather predictions.
  6. Reports from our time in the field are online at ESF CYPRUS
  7. Collaborators were many, and included: My family who joined me for 7 months, Drs. P. Papanastasiou, M. Neophytou, H. Gokcekus, I. Yilmazer, S. Pashiardis

• Fluvial Geomorphological Controls on Hyporheic Exchange in Semi-Arid Wind River Range, $740,000, National Science Foundation (PI Dr. Don Siegel, Co-PI L. Lautz, A. Costello, M. Mitchell)
  1. Determining fluvial geomorphic controls (meanders, dams) on hyporheic exchange and semi-arid influence on nitrogen budgets of 2nd order Red Canyon Creek, tributary to Little Popo Agie River near Lander, WY.
  2. Software used by Lautz includes OTIS, MODFLOW and MODPATH, and may also include HEC-RAS (1D), STREMR (2D), RVR Meander, RMA (2D), FLOW-3D, Branch-Modflow Interactions via USGS's MODBRANCH, and other work (Lancaster, OSU, SMIG links)
  3. Broader impacts include working with Native American peoples in water quality and quantity monitoring, investigating management options for grazing and riparian vegetation on The Nature Conservancy lands and mentoring geology undergraduates in field methods that complement this scientific study.
  4. Climate influences are recorded by the NOAA based Lander Climate Reference Network.

• Restoration of Urban Waterways: Coupling Engineering & Communities, $350,000, US Environmental Protection Agency (w/ Dr. D. Leopold)
  1. Surveying existing conditions and the dimensionless ratios of pattern, profile, and dimension geometries
  2. Mapping riparian vegetation through a combined remote-sensing and in-situ sampling protocol
  3. Utilizing service learning to generate preliminary urban infrastructural data inputs for the model and design analysis
  4. Establishing stormwater drainage patterns for catch basin watersheds and calibrating the hydraulics of stormwater runoff models to test sewer separation
  5. Testing watershed model rainfall-runoff patterns and water quality loading with NEXRAD rainfall data
  6. Designing a new channel based on Priority 1 guidelines to increase aquatic condition and maintain flood conveyance
  7. Testing 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D models of river hydraulics and traditional hydraulic stability with new channel designs
  8. Sediment experiments may use the USFS bedload trap, Helley-Smith and suspended-sediment samplers or other USGS tested, noting constraints, bed-load samplers. See Dr. T. Stott's tutorial on sediment.
  9. Suppliers for equipment include: Wildlife, Rickly,

• Characterizing Forested Bioretention Processes to Restore Water Quality and Quantity , $70,000, USDA McIntire Stennis (w/ D. Daley, PE)
  1. Integrated design, build, manage approach to bioretention for stormwater improvement and watershed restoration at ESF in Onondaga Creek Watershed.
  2. Site selection in design and build stages moved from Moon Library rooftop capture to Illick Hall rooftop capture, keeping with Low Impact Development philosophy.
  3. Links of interest are at the EPA Factsheet on Bioretention, RainGarden Report

• Urban Forestry Modeling Tool – Water Quality Effects, $120,000, US Forest Service (w/ Dr. D. Nowak)
  1. Investigating linkages between vegetation and hydrology in the urban environment
  2. Developing an object oriented watershed model to simulate vegetative controls on water quantity and quality

• Riparian Restoration Demonstration and Study in a Finger Lakes headwater Agricultural Stream, $150,000, U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (Lead Dr. R. Briggs)
  1. Measuring water quality and quantity improvements through a willow (Salix spp.) riparian buffer between agricultural land and Spafford Brook, NY
  2. Development of new hydrologic sensors and data logger configurations for the HWS Data Logger
  3. Developing an object based VBA-Excel model to document field and tile drainage hydrology through the riparian buffer

• Assessment of Lake Ontario Drainage Basin as a member in the United Nations Environment Program HELP (Hydrology for Environment, Life & Policy) Initiative, $2500, Great Lakes Research Consortium
  1. Investigating the level of community participation in the water levels research of the International Joint Commission
  2. Documenting the importance of, and opportunity for, stream restoration in urban communities dealing with flooding, water quality, and recreational issues

• US – Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program: Sustainable Urban Design and Community-Based Resource Management, $200,000, US Department of Education (Lead. C. Doble, PIs E. Carter, others)
  1. Providing international faculty and student exchange to foster inter-disciplinary and global approaches to solving environmental resource problems in areas of urban poverty
  2. Facilitating community involvement and designthrough service learning in addressing stormwater problems

• East of Hudson Modeling of Terrestrial Watershed Processes in Urbanizing Systems, $2,000,000 New York City Department of Environmental Protection (Lead Dr. J.M. Hassett, Co-PIs M. Mitchell, D. Siegel, J. Hassett, D. Burns, P. Heisig)
  1. Assembling a spatial map library of inputs for hydrologic analysis of runoff patterns
  2. Parameterizing rainfall-runoff models sensitive to urban infrastructural spatial arrangements
  3. Investigating the feasibility of Low Impact Development stormwater controls within the developed landscape

• Fluvial Geomorphology Training Modules, $35,000, National Weather Service and NE River Forecasting Center (w/ R. Shedd, J.M.Hassett, C. Spuches)
  1. Analyzing the Rosgen Classification methodology for application in characterizing controls on river flood modeling
  2. Constructing a training module for instructing forecast hydrologists on fluvial geomorphology

• Habitat for Humanity and Syracuse University Vision Grant, $15,000, Syracuse University Chancellors Office (Lead, Habitat Students and Professor L. Elin)

• Onondaga Creek Restoration Feasibility Study: Controlling for Flooding and Water Quality, and Enhancing Natural Processes, $200,000, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (w/ Dr. D. Leopold)
  1. Generating regional curves for the Appalachian Plateau – Great Lakes Basin to determine empirical expectations for urban stream restoration

Water resources monitoring and modeling for restoration and management broadly describe my research interests. My research stems from hydrology and environmental engineering but integrates other disciplines (e.g., forestry, landscape architecture, social sciences, etc.) and tools (e.g., remote sensing, data imaging, mapping, surveying, etc.) to innovatively study and resolve water resource problems in urban and rural environments. Issues that currently interest me are: urban and rural stream restoration, urban and rural stormwater controls, low impact development design, integrated water resources management, best management practices for nonpoint source treatment, and forecasting extreme runoff events. New paradigms that I am integrating into my research include service learning, hydro-ecology, and ecological engineering. Models and monitoring data should be used with innovative methods to restore and manage the resources that sustain us.

• Monitoring designs that interest me and occupy my time are those that explore the area of probability sampling, the coupling of in-situ (e.g., field surveys) and remote sensing (e.g., satellite and airborne imagery) sampling technologies, and the management of large monitoring data sets. I am also interested and involved in the creation and utilization of integrated student-community-based and volunteer based monitoring networks to generate expansive data sets. Together with the US Forest Service we have dedicated one permanent Internet connected weather station to perform cooperative weather observations for the National Weather Service and provide data for local Syracuse researchers.
• Modeling types that interest me and occupy my computational resources are those that explore the relations between water and energy fluxes at spatial scales that include heterogeneity's in topography and land cover and with linkages that examine cross-medial exchanges. These modeling exercises are mostly concerned with watershed and river dynamics at scales ranging from 10s of meters upwards to the US Geological Survey's 8 digit Hydrologic Unit Codes, of which there are over 2000 within the United States. I am extremely interested in developing more robust algorithms for handling the transport of mass and energy across media and in making these models available to the general audience through advanced graphical user interfaces.
• Restoration and management applications that interest me are those that address a range of water resource issues crossing from local to regional to national and international scales. I have been active with community watershed alliances and have worked with state, federal, and international agencies managing our water resources. I have also served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras working on water delivery and quality issues. My interests also include training and preparedness for severe weather, which is coordinated through the National Weather Service.

• Finding Research Time
• Modeling Poem
• ESF Spotlight on Student Research
• ESF Service Learning
• ESF Watershed Elevation Maps

Freeman Dyson, recipient of the 2000 Templeton Prize, Professor Emeritus at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies, responsible for synthesizing Feyman’s, Schwinger’s and Tomanaga’s theories into quantum electrodynamics, author of “The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet”, recipient of dozens of honorary doctorates, holder of a PhD from Cambridge, has said, “The PhD is generally a tremendous waste of time. I’d like to abolish it. It’s using u the best years of their lives, so they are middle aged before they can do anything” (Physics Today, May 2000).