Edith Zagona

  • Research Professor
  • Director CADSWES
  • HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
  • CIVIL SYSTEMS
  • MORTENSON CENTER IN GLOBAL ENGINEERING

Education:

  • BA Philosopy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1975
  • BS Civil Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1978
  • MS Civil Engineering, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO, 1983; Hydraulics and Sedimentation Program
  • PhD Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 1992; Water Resources Program

Inventions Honors and Distinctions:

  • Principal Investigator and Principal Inventor of RiverWare®, a river, reservoir and hydropower management software licensed by CU Office of Technology Transfer (1998-present) and used by hundreds of water managers, agencies, utilities, researchers and consultants for managing river systems in the US and globally.


Professional Affiliations:

  • American Geophysical Union
  • American Society of Civil Engineers
  • American Water Resources Association
  • Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty
  • Colorado Foundation for Water Education
     

Interests:

  • Water resource systems and modeling
  • Planning and operations of multi-objective river and reservoir systems
  • Hydropower modeling and optimization
  • Development of decision support tools for water resources management
  • Analysis and adaptive management for climate change
  • Decision making under uncertainty
  • Technology transfer of 




 

Selected Publications:

Bonham, N., Kasprzyk, J. and Zagona, E. (2022). "post-MORDM: Mapping Policies to Synthesize Optimization and Robustness Results for Decision-maker Compromise," Environmental Modelling & Software, 157, November 2022, 105491, (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105491).

Thapa, S., Magee, T., and Zagona, E. (2022). "Factors That Affect Hydropower Flexibility," Water 2022, 14(16), [Special Issue: Feature Papers of Water-Energy Nexus], 20 August 2022 (https://doi.org/10.3390/w14162563).

Magee, T, Turner, S, Clement, M., Oikonomou, K., Zagona, E., and Voisin, N. (2022) "Evaluating Power Grid Model Hydropower Feasibility with a River Operations Model" IOP Environmental Research Letters, 08 August, 2022, (https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac83db).

Wheeler, K., Jeuland, M., Strzepek, K., Hall, J., Zagona, E., Abdo, G., Basson, T., Blackmore, D., Block, P., & Whittington, D., (2022) "Comment on "Egypt's water budget deficit and suggested mitigation policies for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam filling scenarios,IOP Science, Environmental Research Letters, 5 August, 2022 (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac7e5e).

Smith, R., Zagona, E., Kasprzyk, J., Bonham,N., Alexander, E., Butler, A., Prairie, J. & Jerla, C. (2022). "Decision Science Can Help Address the Challenges of Long-Term Planning in the Colorado River Basin," Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 22 January 2022 ( https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12985).

Wheeler, K.G., Jeuland, M., Hall, J.W., Zagona, E.A., & Whittington, D. (2020). “Understanding and Managing New Risks on the Nile with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” Nature Communications, 11, 5222. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19089-x