Overview
Hydrology is an earth science focusing on the movement, storage, and properties of water in the environment as well as the interaction of water with environmental and human systems.
At the center of this field is a set of physical processes including precipitation, interception, evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, aquifer recharge, groundwater flow, and streamflow that move water in the environment. Hydrology involves the application of mathematical descriptions of these processes as well as statistical methods to account for the spatial variability and temporal dynamics. Many activities in civil and environmental engineering such as water supply planning, flood forecasting, dam safety analysis, storm sewer design, irrigation and drainage system design and management, water rights administration, river restoration, floodplain management, and drought mitigation involve some type of hydrologic analysis, modeling, and/or decision making. Hydrology is also closely related to numerous policy issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, food and energy production, urban planning, etc.
The Hydrologic Science and Engineering (HSE) program focuses on the science of hydrology and its application to engineering and interdisciplinary problems. The program helps students develop a thorough understanding of hydrologic processes, their variability and interrelationships, their connection to human and environmental systems, and their roles in policy making, planning, risk analysis, and design. Students can gain an in-depth understanding of data science, field instrumentation, numerical modeling, statistical methods, remote sensing, geographical information systems (GIS), and field techniques. The program also helps students gain a broad understanding of related Earth sciences (such as meteorology, geology, soil physics, and ecology) and water resources engineering in general.
Faculty
Courses
Students select their courses in consultation with their advisor to match their specific needs and interests. No specific courses are required at the masters or doctoral level, which allows each student maximum flexibility to tailor their education.
Typically, students take courses in physical, groundwater, and urban hydrology, hydraulics, watershed modeling, geographical information systems (GIS), and water resources planning and management. Students also commonly take courses in other disciplines such as atmospheric science, ecosystem science, geoscience, soil science, mathematics, statistics, and economics.
Hydrologic Science and Engineering courses
Introductory Courses
CIVE 322 Basic Hydrology
CIVE 423 Groundwater Engineering
Core Courses
CIVE 520 Physical Hydrology
CIVE 531 Groundwater Hydrology
Method/Tool Courses
- CIVE 524 Modeling Watershed Hydrology
- CIVE 577 GIS in Civil and Environmental Engineering
- CIVE 622 Risk Analysis of Water/Environmental Systems
Application Courses
CIVE 512 Irrigation Systems Design
CIVE 542 Water Quality Modeling
CIVE 572 Analysis of Urban Water Systems
CIVE 573 Urban Stormwater Management
CIVE 625 Quantitative Eco-Hydrology
CIVE 638 Groundwater Quality and Contaminant Transport
Hydrology-related courses (CEE department)
CIVE 519 Irrigation Water Management
CIVE 521 Hydrometry
CIVE 544 Water Resources Planning and Management
CIVE 547 Statistics for Environmental Monitoring
CIVE 549 Drainage and Wetland Engineering
CIVE 565 Finite Element Method
- CIVE 655 Advanced Soil Mechanics
Hydrology-related courses (Other departments)
Atmospheric Science
- ATS 543 Global Climate Change
- ATS 550 Atmospheric Radiation and Remote Sensing
- ATS 652 Atmospheric Remote Sensing
- ATS 780 Machine Learning for Atmospheric Science
Computer Science
- CS 545 Machine Learning
Ecology
- ECOL 505 Foundations of Ecology
- ECOL 610 Ecosystem Ecology
- ECOL 620 Applications in Landscape Ecology
Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
- ESS 501 Principles of Ecosystem Sustainability
- ESS/ATS 543 Global Climate Change
Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 556 AI for Radar and Remote Sensing
- ECE 578 Satellite Data Analysis
Engineering
- ENGR 520 Intelligent Decision Support Systems
- ENGR 522 Object-Oriented GIS Programming for Engineers
- ENGR 535 Human Systems Behavior Modelling
- ENGR 550 Numerical Methods in Science and Engineering
Geosciences
- GEOL 452 Hydrogeology
- GEOL 541 Geostatistics
- GEOL 551 Groundwater Modeling
- GEOL 552 Advanced Topics in
Hydrogeology
- GEOL 553 Tracer Hydrogeology
- GEOL 554 Remote Sensing of the Earth System
- GEOL 579 Solid Earth Inverse Methods and Practices
- GEOL 652 Fluvial Geomorphology
Geography
- GR 503 Remote Sensing and Image Analysis
Natural Resources
- NR 503 Remote Sensing and Image Analysis
- NR 504 Computer Analysis of Remote Sensing Data
- NR 512 Spatial Statistical Modeling-Natural Resources
- NR 426/427 Programming in GIS
Soil and Crop Sciences
- SOCR 470 Soil Physics
- SOCR 522 Micrometeorology
Statistics
- STAT 540 Data Analysis and Regression
- STAT 525 Analysis of Time Series I
- STAT 560 Applied Multivariate Analysis
Watershed Science
- WR 514 GIS and Data Analysis for Water Resources
- WR 574 Advanced Snow Hydrology
- WR 575 Snow Hydrology Field Methods
- WR 616 Hillslope Hydrology and Runoff Processes
Graduate Admission and Program Details
Prospective students can learn more about our requirements, objectives, and program details.
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Advising and Graduate Student Resources
Current students can schedule an appointment with the graduate advisor and access tools to help plan their academic journey.