Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
The Hydrology Days Award is presented each year in recognition of outstanding and significant contributions to hydrologic science.
The 2026 Hydrology Days award will be presented to Holly Barnard, Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Barnard will provide a keynote address on April 8 at 1:00 p.m. in the LSC 386.
From Foliage to Fractures: exploring the critical zone from multiple perspectives
Dr. Barnard is the lead PI of the Dynamic Water Critical Zone Cluster – a project that has focuses on the role of subsurface water storage in driving critical zone processes. Our team defines dynamic water storage is the water that remains for enough time in watersheds to influence streamflow generation, chemically weather rock and drive the release of solutes, breakdown organic carbon through microbial activity, and sustain vegetation between periods of precipitation. The amount and connectivity of dynamic water stores control critical zone processes, including evapotranspiration, forest productivity and mortality, streamflow, weathering and solute transport. Barnard will present on her research journey into critical zone science and share recent advances in the study of dynamic water storage in the critical zone.
Dr. Holly Barnard is the Co-Director of Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Program, INSTAAR Fellow, and Professor of Geography at CU Boulder. Barnard is a leading ecohydrologist whose interdisciplinary research bridges forest ecology and hydrology to understand how climate and land-use change reshape water resources. Her work integrates field experimentation, stable isotope geochemistry, and ecosystem science to advance sustainable water management in mountainous regions.
Each year at Hydrology Days, we honor a speaker by inviting them to present a Borland lecture in either hydrology or hydraulics. Learn more about Whitney Borland and the Borland Endowment to the CSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The 2025 Borland Hydrology Award keynote address will be provided by Terri Hogue, Dean of Earth and Society Programs at the Colorado School of Mines, for her work in Hydrology. Dr. Hogue will provide a keynote address on April 9th at 1 PM.
Modeling Hydrologic Impacts from Forest Disturbance: Progress, Challenges, and Paths Forward
Forest disturbances are increasingly prevalent in the western U.S., driven by prolonged droughts, wildfires, forest mortality from insects or disease, and urban expansion, all of which disrupt hydrologic behavior. Watershed impacts can be acute, such as wildfires or evolve more slowly, like insect-induced mortality. Quantifying the vulnerability of hydrological systems to forest disturbance is crucial for providing both short- and long-term information to stakeholders, aiding in decision-making for sustainable land and water management practices. Depending on the scale of the event, disturbances can significantly alter the magnitude and timing of water budget partitioning, with varying degrees of severity or predictability. Unfortunately, few if any hydrologic models have been developed or parameterized to capture forest disturbances. Both operational and research models suffer in their ability to capture altered hydrological, geochemical, or ecological processes.
Our recent work has focused on improving post-fire predictability in physically based models (i.e. Noah-MP and MIKE-SHE) and statistical models. We utilize machine learning, such as LSTMs, to inform model parameterizations and independently predict post-fire hydrologic behavior, including streamflow and stream water temperature. This presentation will give an overview of disturbance model development for headwater basins in Colorado, focusing on fire and other disturbance regimes, as well as national-scale studies using remote sensing data and statistical models. We also draw attention to watersheds experiencing compound or overlapping disturbance, such as insect-induced forest mortality and wildfire. Challenges and opportunities for improved hydrologic prediction in these systems will also be presented. Understanding the vulnerability of watersheds to disturbance is critical for effective adaptation and resilience-building efforts for regional water resources
Professor Hogue’s research centers on understanding hydrologic and land surface processes, with much of her work focused in semi-arid regions. The overarching goal of her work is to improve the prediction of hydrologic fluxes for better management of water resources, to assess human impacts on the environment, and to mitigate the effects of natural hazards. Projects include investigating catchment response to wildfire, understanding the impact of urbanization on hydrologic fluxes, evaluating climate variability and response of land-atmosphere systems, and improving hydrologic forecasts. Professor Hogue and her research group use field and experimental methods, modeling and optimization techniques, as well as remote sensing data in their investigations.
Visit Dr. Hogue’s biography page to learn more: https://cee.mines.edu/project/hogue-terri/
Hydraulics Recipients
Hydrology Recipients
The Hydrology Days Student Showcase provides an opportunity for students at different points in their careers to exchange ideas, give research presentations and enhance their scientific communication skills. The showcase offers students an enriching environment that sparks peer-to-peer learning and collaboration.
1st Place (tied)- Joseph Bindner, Colorado State University
