People

Dr. Zagona leads a multidisciplinary team at CADSWES in the research and development of RiverWare and other decision support tools.

Dr. Balaji, a Professor of Hydrology, Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics Interests in: Stochastic Hydrology and Hydroclimatology Nonparametric functional estimation techniques (probability density)...

Dr. Kasprzyk’s research group focuses on how to generate new plans for engineering systems, evaluate their performance, visualize trade-offs between multiple objectives and negotiate robust alternatives.

Mitch Clement holds a BA in Ancient Languages from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, as well as BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado.

Ryan Lankin received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) in 2009. After graduating, he worked in the private sector for several years, primarily in the field of network security.

Jessica Lee provides software build and release support for the RiverWare development team. She builds, configures and maintains the release tools used for creating RiverWare installers, and the licensing tools used for license management.

Patrick Lynn did his undergraduate studies at Rice University (BS in Computer Science and Math Sciences, 1987). He completed his graduate work at the University of Colorado (PhD in Computer Science, Certificate in Cognitive Science, 1994), where his research explored theories of human memory and amnesia.

Tim Magee has over 30 years of experience in optimization, including reservoir optimization at CADSWES since 1993. His expertise is in the theory and application of linear programming, integer programming, goal programming and stochastic programming.

David Neumann earned a BS/MS in Civil Engineering from CU Boulder in 2002. In his research, he developed “An operations model for temperature management of the Truckee River above Reno, Nevada.” After a brief time in the consulting world, he began working full time at CADSWES on the RiverWare development team in 2005.

Jim Pasquotto started work at CADSWES in 2005. He functions as the center's main resource for Windows hardware, software and peripherals support.

Kathryn Baack is the financial coordinator for CADSWES. Her roles include payroll liaison, human resources liaison, accountant and research funds administrator. Kathryn earned an MBA from CU Boulder in 1994, and she passed the CPA exam in 1996.

Gwen Miller is a general professional at CADSWES, with a primary focus on technology transfer activities related to the RiverWare decision support system developed at the center and licensed through Venture Partners at CU Boulder.

Nathan is in the PhD program in Civil Engineering, with a focus on Hydrology, Water Resources and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. He is co-advised by Professors Edith Zagona and Joseph Kasprzyk.

Maddy is a PhD student in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. She is co-advised by Dr. Edith Zagona and Dr. Joseph Kasprzyk and is funded by the GAANN fellowship program for Resilient and Equitable Infrastructure through Participatory, Inclusive Engineering.

Elle is a PhD student in Civil Engineering with a focus on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. She is co-advised by Dr. Zagona and Dr. Kasprzyk and funded through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

David is a PhD student at CU Boulder, currently working on a project funded by the Bureau of Reclamation involving development of midterm streamflow forecast methods for the Upper Colorado River Basin based on climate model projections.

Sarah is an engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Region. In August 2019, she earned her PhD in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, in Water Resources and Hydrology, with Professor Balaji.

Alan Butler is a hydrologic engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Region and is currently on assignment at CADSWES.

Logan has nearly a decade of applied water resources engineering experience in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Capitalizing on her professional experience working in private consulting and for Denver Water, she has a strong background in water rights, consumptive use, demand management, surface water allocation modeling, and long-range planning.

Conor Felletter is a hydraulic engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region and is currently on assignment at CADSWES. Conor is a former graduate student at CU Boulder, where he earned BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering.

Kevin is a hydrologic engineer with the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), Upper Colorado Region. Kevin holds a BS in Civil Engineering and is currently pursuing a MS in Hydrologic Engineering from CU Denver, where he also participates in the Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands certificate program. Prior to joining...

Carly is the new water resource program manager, to develop updated operating rules for Colorado River reservoirs. The Colorado River sustains ecosystems and economies across the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. A number of operating rules and agreements within the United States and with the Republic of Mexico expire at the end of 2025. This new position will ensure that new operating rules are developed in a thorough and transparent manner ...

Jessica Khaya is stationed at CADSWES as part of the Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado planning and modeling team. Jessie joined Reclamation as a Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) student while completing her master's degree at the Colorado School of Mines in 2017, in water resource engineering.

James Prairie, Ph.D. is the Research and Modeling Group Chief working in Reclamation's Upper Colorado Basin Region since 2000. He is stationed at the University of Colorado's Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES)...

Rebecca Smith is the Team Lead for the Lower Colorado Basin Region’s Research and Modeling Team. She develops and coordinates the region’s research projects and contributes to planning studies, with a special focus on long-term planning. In 2017 she earned her PhD from CU Boulder where she conducted research on the use of multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA)-assisted optimization in planning and operations of complex water resources systems.

Andrew has over 10 years of water resources engineering experience gained working in private consulting and at the Salt River Project in Phoenix, AZ. He has a background in long-term water supply planning, reservoir system modeling, reservoir operations, and seasonal and event based hydrology forecasting...

Harrison “HB” Zeff is a civil engineer with the Lower Colorado Basin Research and Modeling Team in the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). Prior to his time with the USBR , he spent time in California working on agricultural issues as a research scientist with the University of North Carolina, taught courses at Tubingen University in Germany and spent time as a research fellow at the Property and Environment Research...