STRATEGIC RESEARCH FOCUS AREA
Water for people and the planet
We develop water resource technologies and systems to meet human needs in a globally sustainable environment by using engineering and scientific principles, systems thinking, smart technologies, and integrated design and management.
Our deep commitment to water
CSU’s water resources programs began in frontier days with the urgent need to irrigate productive farms and create livable communities with effective water management systems. Our legacy of world-class work in fluid mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology, water quality, and water resources planning and management enables us to build on the past while envisioning the future of water engineering and science.
Today, we confront rapidly evolving challenges to meet human needs, sustain ecological systems, and mitigate threats from natural hazards. The scope and scale of these issues require integrated approaches with cutting-edge data analytics, decision science, and management tools for complex infrastructure and institutions.
Agricultural Water Management
- Understand crop evapotranspiration
- Develop soil-water deficit models
- Improve precision irrigation
- Innovate irrigation and natural hydrologic systems
Environmental Fluid Mechanics
- Utilize computational fluid dynamics
- Provide flow visualization
- Research turbulence and mixing
Groundwater Engineering
- Monitor groundwater system with remote sensing
- Model interactions with surface water and human systems
- Address groundwater and water quality issues
Hydrologic Systems
- Create novel sensors for monitoring water in the environment
- Monitor interactions with ecological and human systems
- Quantify climate change impacts and develop mitigation technologies
- Leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence
Integrative Solutions for Water Problems
- Promote smart technological and social water systems
- Provide advanced data acquisition, analytics, and risk analysis
- Support institutional analysis to support integrative solutions
River Mechanics
- Monitor erosion, sedimentation, river mechanics, and stream restoration
- Study ecological and environmental flows
Urban Water Management
- Develop sustainability frameworks across sectors
- Innovate solutions for critical and aging infrastructure
- Increase resilience in the face of extreme events
- Manage stormwater
Water and International Development
- Develop and increase capacity
- Integrate engineering approaches
- Maximize sustainability and resiliency
- Incorporate engineering, public health, social institutions, and prosperity
Water Infrastructure
- Plan and analyze the reinforcement, replacement, and removal of dam structures
- Water diversion, conveyance and control, and buried pipelines
- Utilize hydromachinery
Water Resources Planning and Management
- Simulate and optimize models informed by valid science
- Create forecast-based and science-based models
- Leverage comprehensive systems analysis and engineering
Faculty
