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 long history of 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.
Integrative Solutions for Water Problems
- Smart technological and social water systems
- Advanced data acquisition, analytics, and risk analysis
- Institutional analysis to support integrative solutions
Water Resources Planning and Management
- Simulation and optimization models informed by valid science
- Forecast-based and science-based models
- Comprehensive systems analysis and engineering
Hydrologic Systems
- Create novel sensors for monitoring water in the environment
- Monitor interactions with ecological and human systems
- Calculate climate change impacts and develop mitigation technologies
- Leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence
Environmental Fluid Mechanics
- Computational fluid dynamics
- Flow visualization
- Turbulence and mixing
River Mechanics
- Erosion, sedimentation, river mechanics, and stream restoration
- Ecological and environmental flows
Water and International Development
- Sustainable solutions for basic human needs and environmental quality
- Global water and sanitation
- Human-centered engineering
- Interactions between engineering, public health, social institutions, and economic prosperity
Groundwater Engineering
- Aquifers
- Interactions of groundwater and surface water
- Wells and pumps
Water Infrastructure
- Dam planning, analysis, security, and removal
- Water diversion, conveyance and control, and buried pipelines
- Hydromachinery
Agricultural Water Management
- Crop evapotranspiration
- Soil-water deficit modeling
- Precision irrigation
- Irrigation and natural hydrologic systems
Urban Water Management
- Sustainability framework across sectors
- Critical and aging infrastructure
- Resilience in the face of extreme events
- Stormwater management