SUNY ESF
Research
My research interests primarily lie in the area of environmental management and modeling, with a particular emphasis on water resources engineering and the ecosystem services of urban trees. My water resources engineering research focuses on developing and testing approaches to improve water management and utilization, and how best to predict and forecast hydrologic statisics given limited amounts of streamflow data (ungauged and partially gauged sites, and the use of spot measurements). This research encompasses the areas of stochastic and deterministic hydrology, system engineering, probability and statistics, and computer science. My research on the ecosystem services of urban trees examines ways to improve the our understand of the benefits and costs of urban trees and vegetation, and methods to develop improved urban tree management and plantings to improve the ecosystem benefits. This work relies heavy on the i-Tree toolset software products (www.itreetools.org) and our partnerships with the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Davey Tree. This research involves the coupling of air quality, meteorologic, and biogenic models to create spatially distributed predictions of the impact of trees on the urban environment. My research utilizes many engineering tools, and most projects involve a combination of computer programming, GIS, and statistics. Recent and current funded projects are listed below.
Current and Recently Funded Research Projects
Multiscale coupled subsurface-atmosphere drought stress response: A hierarchical NU-WRF modeling and data assimilation study Collaborators: Craig Ferguson, SUNY Albany, Francina Dominguez, Illinois, Sujay Gupta, NASA Funding: NASA Modeling, ANalysis and Prediction (MAP): 2021 - 2025 Goal: To improve drought charterization, prediction and forecasting by improving land-surface coupling during drought events.
Scoping of a new network of bedrock to boundary layer observational facilities to advance Earth system monitoring, understanding, and ecohydrological prediction capabilities Collaborators: Craig Ferguson and Lance Bosart, SUNY Albany, Paul A. Dirmeyer, George Mason, and Jessica Lundquist, University of Washington: NASA Modeling, Analysis and Prediction (MAP): 2021 - 2023 Goal: To improve drought charterization, prediction and forecasting by improving land-surface coupling during drought events.
Developing Drought Triggers and Indicators using the National Water Model: A Case Study to Improve the U.S. Drought Monitor in Support of the Northeast DEWS Collaborators: Craig Ferguson, SUNY Albany, Arthur Degaetano, Cornell Funding: NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP): 2019 - 2021 Goal: To characterize and assess output from NOAA's National Water Model and intergrate this output into the Northeast Drought Early Warning System (DEWS).
Urban Forest Spatial Modeling
Collaborator: Ted Endreny, SUNY ESF, and David Nowak, USDA Forest Service
Funding: US Department of Agriculture Forest Service: 2011 - 2021
Goal: To develop and test spatially distributed models of forest ecosystem services
to improve urban planning and management.
Decision Support System to Develop, Analyze, and Optimize Urban and Community Forests Collaborators: David Nowak, USDA Forest Service, Scott Maco, Davey Tree Funding: US Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Urban and Community Forest Advisory Council (NUCFAC): 2016 - 2020 Goal: To assess the uncertainty of output i-Tree Eco and Hydro, and develop a multiobjective decision support system for i-Tree Landscape.