The IAHR Technical Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics is currently holding an election for the Leadership team. There are 17 candidates for this election.
Election message has be sent through SurveyMonkey. The electronic ballot is open until 30 April 2023, and one can only vote once.
Short Biography
Currently, I hold an associate professor position at the Department of Civil, Geological & Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. I am also the chairholder of a Canada Research Chair in Computational Hydrosystems. This prestigious title is given by the Government of Canada to some of the most exceptional and world-class researchers at Canadian universities. Prior to this, I held positions as an assistant professor at Polytechnique Montreal and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria, and I also worked as a water resource engineer in several engineering firms.
My research interests and specialties are in the areas of fluvial mechanics and computational hydraulics and fluid mechanics. My past research has contributed significantly to the development and application of numerical techniques in combination with experimental and theoretical analysis for the study of fluvial hydrodynamics, sediment transport, water quality, ice dynamics, and flood risk. I have authored and co-authored 76 journal and conference articles. My contribution to the field has been recognized by several awards such as the Thomas C. Keefer Medal by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. I have always been passionate about contributing and having a positive impact on the scientific community as well as the public. Outside my affiliated university, I have been an active member of several professional and research organizations and working groups. I have also been involved in organizing several conferences, mini-symposiums, and other scientific events, most recently the 26th IAHR International Symposium on Ice (2022), and Canadian Water Resources Association Conference (CWRA 2021).
Candidate statement
As a member of the leadership team, I would be committed to advancing the committee's goals and promoting the dissemination of knowledge in fluvial hydraulics to the broader scientific community. My proposed contribution to the committee would be focused on organizing scientific events (e.g., River Flow conference series), coordinating joint initiatives with other IAHR Technical Committees as well as other associations, and promoting fluvial modelling techniques and benchmark tests. Additionally, I would work to promote more international collaborations and knowledge exchange, ensuring that the committee's work is accessible and impactful across borders. As part of this, I would leverage my extensive experience in developing and applying numerical, experimental, and data-driven techniques to study various fluvial processes and to address some of the most pressing challenges facing our communities and environment.
Short Biography
Born in 1976. Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering (2005). Associate Professor of Hydraulics at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Research interests (on Scopus, 63 documents and H=18)
· Bed-load sediment transport at grain scale, turbulence-sediment interaction
· Local bridge scour processes and countermeasures
· River bed-forms
· Altimetric evolution of river beds and implications for flood risk
· Sediment yield from mountain basins
· Two-dimensional inundation modelling for flood damage and risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis of mitigation measures
Teaching
· Fluid mechanics (B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering)
· River Hydraulics (M.Sc. in Civil Engineering for Risk Mitigation)
· Hydro-geological risk (M.Sc. in Civil Engineering for Risk Mitigation)
Major previous involvement with IAHR
· Technical Committee on Experimental Methods and Instrumentation, vice chair (2015-2017), chair (2017-2019), past chair (2019-2022).
· Conference chairman, HydroSenSoft 2019, 2nd Int. Symposium and Exhibition on Hydro-Environment Sensors and Software, Madrid, Spain
See also https://radice.faculty.polimi.it/
Candidate statement
The activity briefly proposed here is related to teaching and dissemination. It is proposed to create a database of people available to give talks (typically, online; in the last years we have learnt that everything is possible with the new means) on a variety of topics related to rivers. Talks could be in the form of seminars (research- or engineering-based) or lectures, and may be provided live or as recordings (the list of people thus comes together with a repository of materials). Teaching videos will also be useful for the purpose, particularly for laboratory stuff (for example, at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJsQ6MOSaE a video that I recently made on open-channel flow can be found).
Which are the objectives and outcomes of this? The activity will enrich the contents of academic courses and increase the appeal of river-related disciplines; foster interaction between scholars by making people know each other; in turn, trigger cooperation on topics of common interest.
After a first experience of involvement in a TC, I am again keen to serve in another team with a strong connection with my area of expertise. I am aware that I am not in one of the categories by which applications are solicited and, moreover, some Italians are already present in the LT. However, the LT may still consider this idea together with the others that will be received.
Short Biography
Carlo Gualtieri is an Hab. Full Professor in Hydraulics and is teaching Environmental Hydraulics at the University of Napoli Federico II. He was also Visiting Professor in several universities in Australia, The Netherlands, Brazil, USA, Russia, China. He authored or co-authored more than 230 scientific publications, including more than 90 papers on Scopus-indexed journals (1611 citations and h-index 21). He co-edited 3 books and served as reviewer for 100 Scopus-indexed journals and for research funding agencies in several countries.
Candidate statement
I am applying to serve as leadership team member within the IAHR Technical Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics as I am active in the study of hydrodynamics, morphodynamics, sediment transport and water quality in large rivers, including their confluences, using a combination of field and remote sensing methodologies. My contribution is aiming at fostering the cooperation among researchers using laboratory, numerical and field methods in Fluvial Hydraulics as well as strengthening the exchanges between more experienced and junior researchers in Fluvial Hydraulics.
Short Biography
Born in Lima, PERU, 1970.
Civil Engineer, Lima, 1994. Postgraduate: Leichtweiß Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, TU Braunschweig, Germany, 1999; Stockhom-Lulea-Jokkmokk Trainning Center, Sweden 2000; ICH-NTNU Trodheim, Norway, 2001.
M.Sc. Hydraulic Engineering - River Engineering and River Basin Development. Thesis:“bed topography & scour in sharp river bends, and influence of bank protection works“, IHE Delft, The Netherlands, 2004:
https://cdm21063.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/masters2/id/8
34 years’international experience, > 40 countries, involved in projects worldwide Latam, Africa, Asia and Europe, working as team leader, international expert, resident construction & project manager, chairman panel of expert, scientific researcher. International expert for ADB, WB, KfW, BID, AfDB, JICA, etc.
Interests: fluvial hydraulics, river fluvial-geomorphology, river sedimentation, river dynamics, engineering pf rivers, estuaries and coastal seas, flood control strategies, risks, river intakes, hydropower & dams.
Team Leader master plan river Piura, Peru; Ucayali and Rimac rivers in Peru, Elbe in Germany, Angara in Siberia, Chao Phraya in Thailand, Yangon in Myanmar, Jamuna and Brahmaputra in Bangladesh, Indus in Pakistan, Sunkoshi and Seti in Nepal, etc.
Candidate Statement
"to promote high qualified technical/cultural interchanges with worldwide members, and to expand IAHR membership to engineers working as private consultants besides of the academy university sector in order to combine research aspects with practical river management, including construction by the engineering + socialization approach, to lead against political issues, corruption and with high ethics and not only good practices, for the benefit of the inhabitants under current global climate change phenomena"."To impulse between members' specific fluvial hydraulics, river flood control and river flood risk management seminars, focused on the importance of fluvial hydraulics and his concept as the key for the technical sustainable solution by web seminars, with lecture case presentation and discussion into a panel and open questioner, giving chances to members to present their outputs". Elaboration of a monograph with participation of experienced and young engineers, topic: "complex river flood risk management and socialization focused on anthropogenic changes and how to take advantage of them", "Encouraging women's participation in all aspects".
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cesar_Alvarado_Ancieta/publications
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1945-3013
https://www.iahr.org/index/detail/202
Piura flood control with IAHR: https://www.iahr.org/index/detail/202
Piura flood control master plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiS-azK8WgY&t=560s
Reportaje Piura case Peru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k54s1q_eQLM&t=8s
Short Biography
My name is Chris Keylock and I have a broad experience in fluvial hydraulics with an original academic background in Physical Geography (degrees from Oxford, British Columbia and Cambridge) followed by academic positions in engineering at Sheffield and Loughborough in the U.K. My work spans a range of scales from landscape evolution (Keylock et al., 2021), through river channel processes (Keylock et al., 2014) to turbulence physics (Keylock, 2018). In 2015 I was asked by the editorial board of Water Resources Research to write the paper on fluvial processes for the journal’s 50th anniversary special issue (Keylock, 2015). I have undertaken experimental, numerical and theoretical research in fluvial hydraulics, including new methods for Particle Imaging Velocimetry post-processing (Higham et al., 2016), experimental work on boundary turbulence structure (Keylock et al., 2016) and formulating the velocity-intermittency method for analysing fluvial/ecohydraulicturbulence structure from field or laboratory data (Keylock et al., 2020). I also produce methods for analysing complex, nonlinear systems (Keylock, 2017) and have undertaken a great deal of work in risk assessment and the non-stationarities induced by climate change, although the domain of application of such research has typically been for mass movements (e.g. Keylock and Barbolini, 2001).
Candidate statement
I am interested in this role as I believe it dovetails with the underlying thrust of my research in the twenty years since I obtained my PhD. I believe that my breadth of academic contributions (including ecology, geomorphology, human geography and hydrology in addition to the more directly relevant areas of hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics) helps me to adopt an inclusive approach to research in fluvial hydraulics as well as acting as an advocate for a range of methodologies. The management of river channels requires an holistic approach that incorporates considerations of flow, sediment transport, bedforms, vegetation, associated chemical and biological processes, the geology and stability of the floodplain and surrounding slopes, human management and climate change. I see the Fluvial Hydraulics Committee as working at the nexus of these interwoven research strands and believe I can provide a theoretically informed perspective on the suite of research questions that inform and guide research in this area as societies attempt to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
Short Biography
Frédérique LARRARTE is a senior researcher, specialized in hydraulics and metrology. She obtained a degree in mechanics at the University of Bordeaux before obtaining a PhD in naval hydrodynamics at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes in 1994 (both in France). She did a post-doc on cavitation at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Technique Avancée in France and another at the Ship Research Institute (now NMRI) in Tokyo (Japan) on viscous drag reduction of ships. She joined the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussée in 1997 where she worked on hydraulics and metrology of urban sewerage systems. From 2012 to 2016, she was coordinator of the 10-partner MENTOR project (Ecotech 2011 program of the French National Research Agency) which promoted the complementarity between numerical and experimental tools. These works aimed at contributing to a good management of urban drainage networks and focused on two important aspects, namely the development of a methodology for the qualification of measurement sites and the dynamics of pollutants. Previously she was coordinator of the SER (Sédiments en Réseaux) project on sediments in wastewater networks, which brought together teams from the scientific network of the French Ministry of Sustainable Development. In this context, she coordinated the development of a test bench for ultrasonic Doppler flowmeters, coordinated the development and implementation of velocity and concentration field samplers, as well as a prototype to continuously monitor sediment height. Since 2015 she has been working on erosion phenomena and she is now associate researcher at LHSV. She was co-leader of the "field study" task, involved in the laboratory-scale part and member of the steering committee of the national SSHEAR project (Funded by the French National Research Agency) contributing to the monitoring of structures affected by scour phenomena and to the development and testing of the PumpET erodimeter. She is the author of various articles for both academic and professional audiences and she coordinated chapter 3: Water level and discharge measurements of the book Metrology in Urban Drainage and Stormwater Management : Plug and Pray, IWA Publishing.
Candidate statement
I have been working on fluid dynamics and hydraulics of open channel flows for more than 20 years. I have contributed ad led various projects and developed experimental set-ups and prototypes. I have aslo supervised various PhD and post doctorate students and written chapters of books. So, I think my experience can contribute to the development of Fluvial Hydraulics and here I apply to contribute as a leadership team member in order to contribute as reviewer of papers for both congress and prices as well as mentoring activities to young professionals.
Short Biography
Hossein Bonakdari, Ph.D., P.Eng., an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa, with advanced knowledge and organized research activities in water resources and artificial intelligence techniques for environmental issues under climate change. His research has primarily been focused on analysis and control of fluvial processes and watershed-scale water quantity and quality models. Throughout his 15 years of professional experience in research, he has developed a body of work solving real engineering problems in the context of managing waterflow and sediment transport and water-related risks based on AI, satellite data and remote sensing, infrastructure design, optimizing current water resources, and infrastructure real-time modeling to protect vulnerable areas from water-related hazards in urban and agricultural sectors. On the basis of a Scopus report, he has been ranked second on the list of top scientists worldwide in his field of interest, Sediment Transport.
Results obtained from his research have been published in more than 270 published papers in international journals (h-index=49) with more than 7200 citations. He also has more than 150 presentations at national and international conferences. He is one of the most influential scientists in field of developing novel algorithms based on artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for solving practical problems. Since 2019, he has been ranked in the list of the world's top 2% of scientists in various fields, which Stanford University publishes yearly. He is a Guest Editor for several special issues on the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for solving applied science problems in Informatics, Sustainability and Earth Journals. He is Editorial board of Informatics, Natural Resources Informatics and Earth journals. He is an internationally recognized, prolific author in Smart and Sustainable Infrastructure Development and a high-impact productive researcher.
Candidate statement
I commit to upholding the integrity of the IAHR fluvial hydraulics committee with each of my actions. To achieve excellence, I will prioritise quality, intelligent processes, and continuous innovation within the committee. Along with the other committee members, my intention is to illuminate various technical aspects of novel numerical/experimental/artificial techniques for integrated application in river sciences to tackle different but related aspects of practical issues for improving the health of a river and other river related issues. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and Data Science (DS) approaches will revolutionize many aspects of future applied research in river engineering and fluvial hydraulics sciences. As a member of the hydraulic society, I will devote my time and energy to the Smart River Restorations that have not yet been systematically benefited by automated data analysis and predictive modelling assistance for reliable designing, real-time monitoring/operation, intelligent diagnostics and adjusting appropriate forecasting models using data-driven techniques with the full capacity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. I will do my best to provides a sound qualitative and quantitative understanding of water and sediment flows in natural rivers.
Short Biography & Candidate statement
Currently, I'm working at Poznan University of Life Sciences in Poland. I joined IAHR in 2023. All my professional activity is related to water engineering focused on sediment transport in rivers, sediment accumulation in reservoirs, and management of the reservoirs. I’m also interested in flood and drought prevention. I have been a member of the Committee on Climate, Water Resources, and Air Protection under Polish Academy of Sciences since 2019. I have also worked actively in Association of Water and Drainage Engineers and Technicians for ten years. During this time, I have been involved in the organization of four national conferences about large lowland reservoirs and several smaller events and workshops. I also have experience in the preparation and organization of more popular events, e.g., I have been a member of the organizing committee of the World Water Days at Poznan University of Life Sciences for 9 years (including 5 years as Chair). The list of my publications may be found in my ORCID profile (0000-0003-0926-5462) or Web of Science (HNI-1827-2023). Additional information is provided on professional social media like ResearchGate, and Nauka Polska (Polish Sciences website).
Short biography
Dr. Manish Pandey is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at National Institute of Technology Warangal. Dr. Pandey obtained his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Uttarakhand Technical University in 2012 and M.Tech and Ph.D. in Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2014 and 2018, respectively. His research interests include Experimental Hydraulics; Sediment Transport; River Training Works; Hydraulics Structure; and Flow through Open Channels. He has more than 5 years teaching and research experience in experimental hydraulics and water resources engineering. He has authored more than 30 peer reviewed journal papers, book chapters and conferences. He has guided 01 PhD and 5 M.Tech students. Presently, he is supervising 04 Ph.D. and 05 M.Tech students to investigate river hydrodynamics and sediment transport challenging applications. He is handling several research and consultancy projects like (i) Scour around bridge elements in hilly streams; (ii) Scour and flow pattern around twin piers in different arrangements; (iii) River training works using Bandles and spur dikes etc.
He has good practical exposure, which intensifies my enthusiasm of working in the field for water resources and fluvial hydraulics. Presently, he is handling two research projects, namely (i) scour and flow patterns around multiple piers sponsored by department of Science and technology India, and (ii) Remote Sensing and GIS-Based Watershed Prioritization in the Catchment of Tehri Dam (India) sponsored by THDC India Limited. He is familiar to use PIV, Vectrino, 2-D bed profiler and some other flow and turbulence measuring devices.
He has collaborated with a number of leading universities and research organizations, including University of Glasgow, University of Bradford, Southeast University China, NCHU Taiwan etc. He has also awarded MOST postdoctoral research grant in year 2019 and MATS early career grant in year 2018. He has been a member of the editorial board of several high ranked Journals. Dr. Pandey is an active reviewer in several reputed peer reviewed journals.
Candidate statement
I am interested in leadership team of IAHR Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics.
Presently, I am working as an Assistant Professor at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, India. I am also serving as an editor for the Environmental, Development and Sustainability Journal (SCI) and Journal of Water Management Modeling (Scopus and ESCI). I’m an active reviewer in several reputed journals such as Journal of Hydraulic Research (IAHR), International Journal of River Basin Management (IAHR), Journal of Hydroenvironment Research (IAHR), Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (ASCE), Journal of Hydroinformatics (IWA), International Journal of Sediment Research, Journal of Irrigation and Drainage (ASCE), Environmental Fluid Mechanics, etc.
My research area includes sediment transport, bridge scour, river hydraulics, water infrastructures and experimentations in water resources and environmental engineering. I always find that flowing water through alluvial streams faces many problems due to the dynamic behavior of flowing water and sediment transport in alluvial streams. Sediment transport in the rainy season becomes more critical due to the high flow rate. This led me to a strong determination towards my contribution to the field of Fluvial Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering.
I have good practical exposure, which intensifies my enthusiasm of working in the field for water resources and fluvial hydraulics. I am handling two research projects in my research domain, namely (i) scour and flow patterns around multiple piers sponsored by department of Science and technology India, and (ii) Remote Sensing and GIS-Based Watershed Prioritization in the Catchment of Tehri Dam (India) sponsored by THDC India Limited. Presently, I’m using PIV, Vectrino, 2-D bed profiler and some other flow and turbulence measuring devices.
As a team member of IAHR Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics, I would like to organize several online and off line programs of fluvial hydraulics like webinars, conferences etc. As a committee member, it will be a paramount importance to my career. With my theoretical knowledge and practical skill, I am confident that I will synchronize with your standards.
Short biography
I received my Ph.D. in“Hydraulic Engineering for the Environment and the Territory”in 2013 from the Università della Calabria (Italy). From 2013 to 2015, I worked at the Università della Calabria (Italy) on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling of flow fields at fluvial confluences, in collaboration with the Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal), where I spent 8 months, the Università di Enna ‘Kore’ (Italy) and the Università di Palermo (Italy). From 2016 to 2018, I worked at the Università del Salento (Italy) on 3D analysis of local scouring induced by a rotating ship propeller. From 2018 to February 2023, I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Università della Calabria (Italy), and from March 2023 I am Assistant Professor (Non Tenured/RTDa) in the same university. My research activity is based on turbulence in open-channel flows on rough beds, turbulence characteristics of flows through vegetation, interactions between turbulent flows and structures,sediment transport and deposition, flow field and local scouring induced by propellers in waterways and harbours. As regards the teaching experience, from 2016, I am Lecturer of Hydraulics and Hydraulic Constructions at the Università degli Studi eCampus (Italy). During 2019 I worked at the University of Dundee (Scotland, UK) for tutorial and laboratory support in Fluid Mechanics. From 2019, I am also Teaching Assistant in Fluvial Hydraulics at the Università della Calabria (Italy). In 2020, I obtained the National Scientific Qualification for the Associate Professorship in Italian Universities. I am the co-author of several scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and I presented many works at international and national conferences. In 2022, I received the “Willi H. Hager Journal of Hydraulic Research (JHR) Best Reviewer Award” for outstanding reviews during the period 2019-2020 (7th edition).
Candidate statement
I am applying as a candidate to become a team member in the Fluvial Hydraulics Committee because I would like to contribute actively to enhancing the position of IAHR in providing the latest research results and innovations useful for the community working in this field. As a potential team member, I would like to focus on strengthening the dissemination of knowledge to inspire researchers, also in view of building a broader community, with side activities to the International conferences. For example, I would like to revamp the River’s List, where news, blog posts and announcements of open calls for scientific projects (to favour the collaboration among researchers) are constantly updated. I would promote the organization of online short courses and webinars, involving the Regional Divisions, in which worldwide research groups may show the outcomes of their studies or demonstrations of their experiments. To facilitate the dissemination of the scientific results to a non-scientific audience, a wide range of platforms may be employed (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube). These will be aimed at potential stakeholders, university students and citizens of all generations, to fully apprehend our water bodies as a common good and to raise awareness for the importance of river processes, risk analysis and mitigation in fluvial systems, restoring freshwater ecosystems and the natural functions of rivers
Short Biography
I (Peng HU) was born in 1985 and am currently a Professor and the Vice Director of Port, Coastal and Nearshore Engineering Institute, Ocean College of Zhejiang University, China. I obtained two PhD degrees in 2012 and 2013 from Wuhan University, China and Heriot-Watt University, UK, respectively. Afterwards, I joined Zhejiang University as a Lecturer and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015 and Full Professor in 2020.
My research aim is to understand and predict evolution of the water flow-sediment transport-river/coastal/sea bed system in response to intense human interventions and extreme hydrological events. In this regard, our group has mainly done three things. First, we proposed the theory of multiple time scales for fluvial processes, based on which the relative time scales of water flow, sediment transport and bed deformation are analyzed and compared, facilitating revealing of the applicability of different types of numerical models (decoupled, partially coupled, and fully coupled; capacity, and non-capacity). Second, we developed a series of fully coupled non-capacity models, which reduce uncertainty for applications to systems featuring intense sediment transport and rapid bed deformation. Third, by proposing the hybrid LTS/GMaTS method, we have significantly improved the computational efficiency of these models and consequently these models have been applied to understand the evolution and regulation of key waterways of the Yangtze River, China. (Peng Hu | ResearchGate)
Candidate statement
(1) Teaching and popularization of fluvial hydraulics. Fluvial Hydraulics is a very important but traditional research field, whereas young generations are more opt to new technologies (4G/5G, AI). How to attract talented young generations is an important issue for fluvial hydraulics. Personally, with the course “fluvial processes”, I have won some teaching awards (e.g., ranked first in the 2021 teaching competition of Zhejiang Province, China; this competition involves all engineering subjects). This brings me the interests of popularization of our subject (e.g., fluvial hydraulics, sediment transport, morphological evolutions).
(2) Sediment transport in lower reach of River, estuary, coastal and deep sea. Where do fluvial sediments go when they enter into the sea: deposited in estuary? Transported to neighboring coastal areas? Plunging into bottom as turbidity currents that propagate through the continental shelf, the continental slope into submarine canyons and fans? On the one hand, I work in Ocean College of Zhejiang University. On the other hand, my PhD background is fluvial processes. This brings me a strong interest to understand sediment transport route and consequences when they leave the river course. From the description of the Committee Scope, the Committee is interested in this area, which I can do my best to contribute.
(3) Other tasks that the Committee may need me.
Short Biography & Candidate statement
I am the group leader of the hydro-morphological modeling group at the Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. My background and core expertise lie in Civil and Environmental Engineering. During my postdoc, I dove deep into the ecohydraulics and morphology of the Yuba River in California and I couldn't let go of the topic. That's why upon returning as a group leader to a Civil Engineering department, I am committed to easing connecting pipelines between hydraulic engineering, geomorphology, and ecology through a proactive digital knowledge campaign. To see an example, visit https://hydro-informatics.com or my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@hydroinformatics.
Short Biography
Dr. Shooka Karimpour is an Assistant Professor at the department of Civil Engineering at York University, Toronto, Canada. She started his Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Chicago, transferred to McGill, where she graduated with a degree in Hydrotechnical Engineering – Civil Engineering in 2015 and joined York University in 2019. She is also a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in Ontario and member at large with the Hydrotechnical Division of Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE). Shooka specializes in the development and application of hydro-environmental models to investigate mixing and transport processes and linkage to entrainment of multi-phase flow. In particular, her research group explores turbulent-induced movement of sediments and emerging contaminants including Microplastics (MPs). She is leading a large-scale, multi-institutional research partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP), investigating the mobility and distribution of MPs across Lake Ontario. Her research has been published in prestigious journals such as Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physics of Fluids, and Environmental Science & Technology and she has been recognized nationally and internationally by awards such as the best CSCE Hydrotechnical paper award (2021) and York University’s Research Award winner (2022).
Candidate statement
I am interested in joining the leadership team of the IAHR technical committee on Fluvial Hydraulics. I have been an IAHR member since 2019. My area of expertise and research lies in Environmental Hydrodynamics and Hydrotechnical Engineering. I have more than 16 years of international experience as an academic and engineer in Canada, USA, and Iran in this discipline. In earlier stages of my carrier, one of the barriers I found to success was lack of mentorship and women leadership available to me at a younger age. It was hard to find strong women role models, especially in the field of Hydraulics. Even now, all my collaborations in my discipline, both in my research and my involvement with CSCE, are with male colleagues (as they are fewer women in the area). Although CSCE and IAHR are equity seeking entities, I believe more should be done to foster women in our discipline. If I join in the leadership of this technical committee, I’ll take it on to promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the committee and IAHR as a whole, by for example creating mentorship programs or small travel scholarships for women and under-represented groups. It has to also be noted, that due to these barriers many early career women and underrepresented group scholars, are on average older than their colleagues at the same career level. This has to be incorporated in the language and opportunities tailored for such groups. I would also like to create more learning opportunities for early career scholars (PhD students in particular) to increase their exposure to various technical and soft skills required for their success in academia or industry.
Short Biography
I am currently, since January 2020, employed as a Senior Analyst at JBA Risk Management Ltd, Skipton, UK. Despite being in a consultancy company the core remit of my responsibilities is very much research oriented in nature. The main goal of my current endeavours is to generate static return period flood maps on reach and catchment scale using state-of-the-art 2D hydraulic model combined with hydrological models of varying complexity. I regularly disseminate the findings from my research/projects through presentations at international conferences and by publishing articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals. I obtained a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA, in May 2012 under the direction of Prof. Marcelo H. Garcia. My undergraduate and postgraduate degrees were also in Civil Engineering and were acquired from Nagpur University, India (2001) and Mississippi State University, USA (2005), respectively. Between 2005 and 2007, I worked with Prof. George Constantinescu and Prof. Larry Weber as a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Iowa on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) project for thermal modelling of reservoir and its impact on fish passage. My PhD thesis focused on 3D hydrodynamic and water quality modelling of the Chicago Area Waterway System. After my PhD, I worked as a research scientist with Prof. Michael Rode at Helmholtz Environmental Research Centre (in Germany) on catchment-wide simulation of water quantity and quality variables. Since coming to the UK in 2014, I have held two postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) positions, first with Prof. Richard Hardy (Durham University, 2014-2016) and then with Prof. Andrew Wade (University of Reading, 2016-2017). At Durham, I examined the impact of bedforms on ambient flow conditions using simulation techniques based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). At Reading, I worked on connecting a fully distributed surface hydrological model with a groundwater model and conducted a simulation on a chalk-dominated catchment in the south of England. In June 2017, I accepted a Senior Research Fellowship in the School of Earth and Environment (SEE) at the University of Leeds (UoL). I started working with Prof. Andrew Challinor. At UoL, my research focussed on incorporating nutrient transport and turnover routines in the General Large Area Model (GLAM) for annual crops and examined the impact of nutrient stress on crop yield and sub-surface water quality.
Candidate statement
Given the diversity of my previous affiliations and projects, as a member of the leadership team of the fluvial hydraulics committee, I would gently steer the committee to focus slightly more on investigating the impact of climate change on pertinent water quantity and quality state variables. This will be accomplished by organising thematic session to this end at IAHR conferences and by enhancing the nexus between industry and academia through projects and student training. I am confident that I will be a very positive addition to the aforementioned committee. I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.
Short Biography
Dr. Syed Iftikhar Ahmad is an emerging professional and researcher in River Morphology and Sediment transport. He earned his PhD from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2011, specializing in fluvial hydraulics and sediment transport. Dr. Ahmad’s research and professional career focused on fluvial hydraulics and sediment transport. He developed a model to predict shaped-based sediment transport rates in river systems and the evolution of fluvial structures. He investigated sediment transport in rivers, canals and for small Hydro Power Projects. Dr. Ahmad serves as a consulting engineer. He previously worked as a faculty member and head of the Civil engineering department at different Universities in Pakistan. He offered undergraduate and graduate-level courses on Hydraulics, River engineering and sediment transport. He is also a member of several professional bodies like ASCE, IAHR, JSCE, and PEC. He also provided consultancy services for few projects in Pakistan. Dr. Syed Iftikhar Ahmad has strong affiliations and research interests in river hydraulics, morphology and sediment transport.
Statement of Research Interests
Sediment transport is a fundamental process that shapes the morphology of river channels. My research interests lie at the intersection of fluvial hydraulics, hydraulic engineering and the development of software tools for simulating river processes. I have experience using River2D, HEC-RAS, GSTARS3, CCHED2D-SED and Flow3D models to simulate flow and sediment transport. My previous research experience in developing and implementing the hydraulic design of structures and sediment shape-based transport models enabled me to tackle challenging field problems.
I am interested in exploring new ways of observations, measurements and analysis to understand and model the River performance, fluvial processes and interactive responses of river factors to the environment. I am also interested in improving the accuracy of computational models by using the shape-based data for river beds which can provide more accurate and reliable results and are also helpful in understanding other phenomena of selective sediment transport and downstream fining.
Previously, I used stochastic modelling, Fourier shape analysis and image processing for reconstructing 2D structures of sediments and finally evaluated the mobility of different shapes in size classes with a stochastic transport model. Now I can advance it by exploring 3D structuring, shape distributions, mobility functions and particle tracking under stochastic modelling. Sediment transport research is a dynamic and vital area of study. I wish to engage my research with other ongoing and exciting research frontiers like Ecohydraulics, climate change on river morphology, river restoration strategies and sustainable river management.
Candidate statement
I shall contribute to routing the knowledge transfer from researchers to practitioners and vice versa and promote the development of new collaborations and partnerships that can advance the field.
I shall be welcoming and open to new ideas and experiences of river infrastructure, ecosystem and environment in identifying research questions and developing innovative solutions, future needs and opportunities especially for young generation.
I shall foster knowledge exchange and disseminate through conferences, workshops, training and other events. Thank you very much for considering as serving for IAHR, technical committee on Fluvial Hydraulics will be a great honor for me.
Short Biography
Dr. Xiaofeng Liu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He got his bachelor's degree in Hydraulic Engineering from Tsinghua University and a master's degree in Environmental Science from Peking University, China. He got his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and a second master degree in Applied Mathematics in 2008. Dr. Liu’s research interest includes computational hydraulic, sediment transport, and environmental fluid mechanics. His group specializes on the development and utilization of computational models for problems in fluvial hydraulics, such as erosion and sedimentation. His research has been funded by U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USGS, DoD, DoE, FHWA, and industry. Dr. Liu received the Harry West Teaching Award from Penn State and the State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Dr. Liu has been involved with IAHR activities since his days as a graduate student. When he was studying at UIUC, he helped the IAHR student chapter to organize many events. It is also at that time he attended the first IAHR sponsored conference, the 2005 Symposium on River, Coastal, and Estuarine Morhpodynamics. Since then, Dr. Liu has participated in many more IAHR Congresses, River Flow Conferences, and many other meetings. In 2021, Dr. Liu co-organized the first IAHR Online Forum’s Session: Bridging Research and Practice of Ecohydraulics – Challenges, Solutions, and Future Perspectives.
Candidate statement
I apply to be on the Fluvial Hydraulics Leadership Committee because this committee really feels like home to me and I feel that I have much to contribute along with many colleagues and friends in this field. As a leadership team member, I will strive to contribute to all the traditional focus areas and new initiatives within the scope of fluvial hydraulics. One of my own research interests is the interaction between human intervention and natural fluvial processes. I envision many activities and initiatives can originate from this umbrella theme. With the help of the whole leadership team and maybe reaching out to other sister IAHR technical committees and working groups, I can take lead in some of these, such as a new IAHR monograph on fluvial hydraulics, river engineering, and nature-based, nature-like solutions. As a leadership committee member, I will also be better positioned to establish and expand the presence of the Fluvial Hydraulics and IAHR in the eastern part of USA, which currently is not very well known in the vast communities of river researchers and practitioners here. When the opportunity arises, I will try to host a future River Flow conference at my institution.