Margulis Research Group

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

UCLA

News

May 2008 -- Keith Musselman receives NASA ESS Fellowship:

Ph.D. candidate Keith Musselman (co-advised by Noah Molotch) received a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for his proposal entitled: "Remote sensing and ground data assimilation using a basin-scale snow water equivalent reconstruction method toward use in Hydrologic Runoff Applications". The prestigious three year award will fund his ongoing Ph.D. work.

March 2008 -- Dayong Shen joins research group

Dayong Shen has joined the research group as a postdoctoral scholar. He will focus on applying snow data assimilation techniques for snow water equivalent estimation in the Sierra Nevada.

February 2008 -- Bart Forman and Hsin-Yuan Huang receive Award at Fall AGU Meeting:

Ph.D. candidates Bart Forman and Hsin-Yuan Huang both received an AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award at the Fall Meeting. Bart's presentation was entitled: " Estimates of total downwelling surface radiation using a high-resolution GOES-based cloud product along with MODIS and AIRS products". Hsin-Yuan's presentation was entitled: "Influence of surface heterogeneity on a realistic convective boundary layer".

December 2007 -- Feature in C&EE Department Newsletter

Some of the group's work in the area of snow data assimilation is featured in the Fall 2007 C&EE Department newsletter in an article entitled: "Improving Water Resource Management from Space".

September 2007 -- Keith Musselman joins research group

Keith Musselman has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. He will focus on studying snow processes using a variety of in-situ and remote sensing measurements along with modeling and data assimilation techniques.

June 2007 -- Bart Forman receives NASA ESS Fellowship:

Ph.D. candidate Bart Forman received a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for his proposal entitled: "Development of a Multi-scale Remote Sensing Data Assimilation Tool for Ensemble-based Estimates of Surface Forcing Fields for Use in Distributed Land Surface Models". The prestigious three year award will fund his ongoing Ph.D. work.

November 2006 -- Noah Molotch leads team into Sierras to better understand changing snowpack

Noah Molotch, in collaboration with scientists from UC Merced is leading a field campaign to ultimately better understand snowpack in the Sierras and how it may be changing. See the SF Chronicle story.

September 2006 -- Bart Forman and Che-Chuan Wu build novel teaching tool

Bart Forman and Che-Chuan Wu built a portable hydrology sensor laboratory (a.k.a. "Hydrology Sandbox") designed and constructed at UCLA for use as a teaching tool in Introduction to Hydrology (CEE 150).  Instrumentation measurements include total solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), soil moisture content at three (3) different depths, soil temperature at three (3) different depths, air temperature, relative humidity, evapotranspiration at two (2) different locations, wind speed, and precipitation rate.

September 2006 -- Kurt Heinze joins research group

Kurt Heinze has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. His thesis will focus on combining dynamic crop models with remotely sensed multi-spectral data for more efficient irrigation practices.

September 2006 -- Bart Forman travels to Guatemala to aid in water resources planning:

Bart Forman and other members of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) traveled to the community of Pacaxcoj near Momostenango, Guatemala, during the Summer of 2006 to conduct a feasibility study and preliminary assessment of a proposed potable water development project.  The proposed project aims to increase the potable water supply and reliability in the community of 4500 people via use of a mechanical well installed approximately 800-feet into a dormant volcano at a projected cost of $150,000 (U.S.).

July 2006 -- Michael Durand receives Award at Spring AGU Meeting:

Ph.D. candidate Michael Durand received an AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award at the Spring Meeting for his presentation entitled: " Feasibility of distributed snowpack characterization using radiometric data assimilation: an example of a multi-scale, multi-frequency approach".

May 2006 -- Dr. Noah Molotch joins research group:

Dr. Noah Molotch has joined the research group and department as an assistant researcher after having recently completed a fellowship at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado. Dr. Molotch's research interests are in the areas of snow hydrology, hydrometeorology, ecohydrology, remote sensing, and spatial analysis.

September 2005-- Che-Chuan Wu joins research group

Che-Chuan Wu has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. His research will focus on assimilating embedded sensor data into physically-based vadose zone models to characterize soil moisture, temperature, contaminant state for mitigation of nitrate transport into groundwater aquifers at a wastewater re-use site.

September 2005 -- Dr. James McPhee joins research group:

Dr. James McPhee has joined the research group as a visiting scientist from the University of Chile. Dr. McPhee's research will focus on precipitation modeling, remote sensing, and data assimilation.

July 2005 -- Bart Forman participates in collaborative field campaign

Bart Forman participated in a two week field campaign in the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) in the Jemez Mountain, New Mexico led by Prof. Enrique Vivoni at New Mexico Tech. The purpose of the campaign was to quantify regional variability in soil moisture and hydrometeorological conditions in an area dominated by the North American Monsoon.

June 2005-- Michael Durand receives NASA ESS Fellowship:

Ph.D. candidate Michael Durand received a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for his proposal entitled: "Characterization of Snowpack Using a Multi-Frequency Multi-Scale Radiometric Data Assimilation Scheme". The prestigious three year award will fund his ongoing Ph.D. work.

May 2005-- Michael Durand nominated for TA award:

Michael Durand received a nomination for the Teaching Assistant of the Year Award by the UCLA ASCE student chapter for his efforts in the Fall 2004 C&EE 150: Introduction to Hydrology course.

January 2005-- Hsin-Yuan Huang receives Award at Fall AGU Meeting:

Ph.D. candidate Hsin-Yuan Huang received an AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award at the Fall Meeting for his presentation entitled: " Estimation of Rootzone Soil Moisture and Land Surface Fluxes from Reference-Level Micrometeorology and Boundary Layer Observations".

January 2005 -- Barton Forman joins research group:

Barton Forman has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. His research will focus on using distributed hydrologic models in conjunction with remote sensing data for diagnosis and prediction of spatially-distributed hydrologic processes.

September 2004 -- Dr. Songweon Lee joins research group:

Dr. Songweon Lee has joined the research group after completing his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University. His research will focus on developing ensemble-based insolation forcing fields for hydrologic modeling applications.

September 2003 -- Hsin-Yuan Huang joins research group:

Hsin-Yuan Huang has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. His research will focus on land-atmosphere interaction studies using large-eddy simulation techniques.

September 2002 -- Michael Durand joins research group:

Michael Durand has joined the research group to pursue his Ph.D. degree in the area of hydrology and water resources engineering. His research will focus on characterizing snowpacks through the combination of remote sensing and physically-based modeling using advanced data assimilation techniques.