Projects

Funded Projects

  • (2014-2014) “Corn Yield Spatial Analysis for Deficit Irrigated Fields,” Sponsor: USDA-US Dept. of Agriculture ARS WMRU, Period: June 1 – Nov 30, 2014.
  • (2014-2015) “Developing an Unmanned Aerial Remote Sensing of ET System,” PI: Sponsor: Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), July 1st 2014 – June 30th 2015.
  • (2013-2013) “Accuracy assessment of the CWSI-based ET estimates considering different spatial resolutions from multiple remote sensing platforms (Phase I),” Sponsor: Regenesis Management Group, LLC.
  • (2013-2015) “Implementation of Deficit Irrigation Regimes: Demonstration and Outreach,” 9/28/2013 – 9/30/2015, Sponsors: Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB); Central Colorado Water Conservancy District; USDA-US Dept. of Agriculture, ARS, WMRU; West Greeley Conservation District; and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District.
  • (2012-2015) “Reference evapotranspiration determination using the recursive method and surface aerodynamic temperature.” USDA-CSREES and Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. PI: Jose Chavez, coPI: Allan Andales, Jul 2012 – June 2015.
  • (2011-2012) “Grass water stress and ET monitoring using ground & airborne-based remote sensing,” Northern Colorado Water Conservation District, Jul 2011 – Jun 2012.
  • (2010-2011) “Irrigated Agriculture Water Conservation Tool.” Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, Apr 2010 – May 2011.
  • (2010-2013) “Crop Water Stress Index and Evapotranspiration Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Techniques.” Regenesis Management Group, LLC.
  • (2009-2010) “Remote sensing-based crop water stress determination of limited irrigation MON87460 transgenic drought tolerant corn hybrids,” Monsanto.
  • (2009-2011) “Wireless in-field soil water content monitoring,” Central Colorado Water Conservancy District (CCWCD) July 2009 – May, 2011.
  • (2009-2014) “Crop evapotranspiration determination using eddy covariance fluxes, high resolution remote sensing imagery & a surface temperature approach,” USD, ARS, CPRL.
  • (2009-2012) “Modeling and evaluating remote sensing-based crop ET with scintillometers and a heat flux source area function.” USDA-CSREES and Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. PI: Jose Chavez, Jul 2009 – June 2012.
  • (2014-2017) “Decision support tools, drought tolerance, and innovative soil and water management strategies to adapt semi-arid irrigated cropping systems to drought.” PI: Cotrufo, CoPIs: Paustian, Khosla, Chávez, and Andales. Sponsor: USDA-NRCS CIG, Period: 1 Feb. 2014 to 31 Jan. 2017. Multidisciplinary project, service in the form of demonstration of methods,
    Role: monitoring crop water use using remote and in-situ sensors/methods.
  • (2011-2013) “Lower South Platte irrigation research & demonstration project,” PI: Neil Hansen, Co-PI: Jose Chavez, Sponsor: Parker Water & Sanitation District, May 2011 – Dec 2013. Multidisciplinary project,
    Role: using micro-meteorological, remote and in-situ technology to determine corn water use under different deficit regime treatments.
  • (2009-2012) “Using the ASCE Standardized Reference ET equation and appropriate crop coefficients for irrigation management.” USDA/NRCS. PI: Allan Andales, Co-PI: Jose Chavez, Sponsor: USDA NRCS CIG, Sept 2009 – Sept 2012. Multidisciplinary project,
    Role: guiding graduate student, lysimeter data review, research data processing quality verification.

(2014-2018) “CyberSEES: Type 2: Decision Support System to Optimize Precision Irrigation with a Cyber-Enabled Integrated Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System.” PI: Jose Chavez, co-PI: Anura Jayasumana, Sponsor: NSF, Grant Amount: $ 1,011,842.00 (submitted, PASS ID: 119262)

(2015-2019) “Global Center for Advanced Studies on Water (GCAS-W): A Partnership with Mehran University of Engineering and Technology to Achieve Water Sustainability.” PI: Ajay Jha, Collaborator: Jose Chavez, Sponsor: USAID, Multidisciplinary project,
Role: agricultural water management curriculum advising, mentor of ex-change graduate students and scholars in irrigation management, course/workshop preparation.

  • (2013-2015) “Borland Chair of Hydrology,” PI: Jose Chavez, Sponsor: CSU Civil and Env. Eng. Dept. (Borland funds). Fort Collins, CO. Period: 2013 – 2015.
  • (2013-2014) “Internal RFP for Research Equipment and Instrumentation in Support of Water and Water-Related Environmental Research Efforts: Borland Grant,” PI: Jose Chavez, coPI: Saleh Taghvaeian, Jeff Niemann, Sponsor: Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Borland Program, Oct. 2013 – June 2014.
  • (2011-2011) “Precision irrigation center pivot system.” PI: Jose Chavez, Sponsor: CSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Borland Grant, Oct 2011.

Collaborative & Integrative Interdisciplinary Scholarship

  1. (2008-2014), I collaborated with the multidisciplinary/multi-Institutional BEAREX08 research team. The team was composed by scientists and engineers from the following institutions: a) USDA ARS Conservation and Production Research Lab (Bushland, TX); b) USDA-ARS Hydrology & Remote Sensing Lab (Beltsville, MD); c) USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment (Ames, IA); d) Biological and Irrigation Engineering Department, Plants Soils and Climate Department from Utah State University (Logan, UT); e) USDA-ARS U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center (Maricopa, AZ); f) the University of Alabama; g) the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS) at the University of Oklahoma; and h) from the Gilat Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Rural delivery Negev, Israel.

    My role included the following: a) installation and maintenance of a network of eddy covariance (EC) energy balance stations, EC data retrieval, QC/QA, data processing and analysis, as well as data publication/sharing; b) ground based remote sensing data collection; c) airborne multispectral remote sensing imagery processing and analysis; and d) integration of processed data with other collaborators’ findings for model(s) development/evaluation and for Journal article publications.

    Below a short abstract of the BEAREX08 project has been included:
    “In 2008, scientists from eight federal and state institutions worked together to investigate temporal and spatial variations of the surface energy balance and evapotranspiration (ET) in a semi-arid irrigated and dryland agricultural region of the Southern High Plains in the Texas Panhandle. Micrometeorological fluxes (surface energy balance) were determined in four weighing lysimeter fields (each 4.7 ha) containing irrigated and dryland cotton and in nearby bare soil, wheat stubble and rangeland fields using nine eddy covariance stations, three large aperture scintillometers, and three Bowen ratio systems. Flux and remote sensing aircraft flew transects over the surrounding fields and region encompassing an area contributing fluxes from 10-30 km upwind of the USDA-ARS lysimeter site. Tethered balloon soundings were conducted over the irrigated fields to investigate the effect of advection on the local boundary layer development. Local ET was measured using four large weighing lysimeters, while field scale estimates were made by soil water balance with a network of neutron probe profile water sites and from the stationary flux systems. Aircraft and satellite imagery were obtained at different spatial and temporal resolutions. Plot-scale experiments dealt with row orientation and crop height effects on spatial and temporal patterns of soil surface temperature, soil water content, soil heat flux, evaporation from soil in the interrow, plant transpiration and canopy and soil radiation fluxes. BEAREX08 is perhaps the only large scale field study to date that has measurements of ET at scales ranging from local to regional scale; and that compares direct and indirect methods at local scale with remote sensing based methods and models using aircraft and satellite imagery at local to regional scales. Our understanding of the role of advection in the measurement and modeling of ET is advanced by the integrating measurements and model estimates.” [Evett, et al. (2012), “Overview of the Bushland Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote sensing Experiment 2008 (BEAREX08): A field experiment evaluating methods for quantifying ET at multiple scales,” Advances in Water Resources, 50:4-19].
  2. (2010-2013), I was a PI of a project funded by Regenesis Management Group, LLC. I was part of a larger project in which the USDA-ARS Water Management Research Unit of Fort Collins, CO, served as base for the project. Other members of the multidisciplinary research team included scientists and engineers from Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, CSU Department of Geosciences in the Warner College of Natural Resources, and CSU Department of Horticulture.

    My role included the installation of soil water content sensors and infra-red thermometry stations to monitor corn water use or evapotranspiration under different water management strategies. In addition, responsibilities included ground-based remote sensing data collection, processing and analysis; as well as airborne multispectral remote sensing imagery processing and analysis. My portion of the project had the objective of determining an optimal algorithm to accurately estimate corn evapotranspiration with minimal instrumentation and data processing. Other members of the team determined other components of the irrigation hydrology (i.e., deep percolation, surface runoff, applied water).
  3. (2011-2013), A multidisciplinary project funded by Parker Water & Sanitation. Collaborated with Dr. Neil Hansen and Dr. Allan Andales from the Soil and Crop Science Department (CSU) in a research and demonstration project. My involvement included the quantification at different scales of corn water use. Eddy covariance energy balance, Large Aperture Scintillometry (LAS), a network of soil water content sensors and infra-red thermometry were deployed in Iliff. Satellite imagery were processed and analyzed and results were integrated with data from plant/soil management coordinated by Drs. Hansen and Andales.
  4. (2013-2015), I am a PI of an Alternative Water Transfer (ATM) project funded by Colorado Water Conservancy Board (CWCB). This is a multidisciplinary project with collaborators from CSU Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Northern Water, West Greeley Conservancy District, Central Colorado Water Conservancy District and the USDA-ARS Water Management Research Unit (Fort Collins, CO). My role is to demonstrate (to farmers, consultants, and water managers) different options (scales) of remote sensing techniques for monitoring and managing full to deficit irrigation water management strategies.
  5. (2014-2017), I am a co-PI in a multidisciplinary demonstration project funded by the USDA-NRCS CIG program. The funding has come via Brigham Young University (BYU) since Dr. Hansen moved from CSU to BYU at the start of the project. Four scientists from the Soil and Crop Science Department (CSU) are involved in the project besides Dr. Hansen from BYU. My role is to determine corn water use at a high spatial resolution using ground based and airborne based multispectral remote sensing.