Group

Meet current and former members of our research group!

Current Members

Dr. Joseph Kasprzyk

Associate ProfessorAssociate Chair for Graduate Education
Hydrology, Water Resources & Environmental Fluid MechanicsCivil Systems
joseph.kasprzyk@colorado.edu

I'm associate professor and associate chair for graduate education in the Civil Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. My research group has contributed decision making methodologies for diverse engineering problems including reservoir management for water resources systems, water treatment plant operations, and the design of sustainable materials. These methodologies combine multi-objective optimization using evolutionary algorithms with interactive vi...

Maddy Pernat

PhD StudentCo-advised by Prof. Edith Zagona
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS

Maddy is a PhD student in Civil Engineering with a focus on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. She is co-advised by Prof. Joseph Kasprzyk and Prof. Edith Zagona and is funded by the GAANN fellowship program for Resilient and Equitable Infrastructure through Participatory, Inclusive Engineering. She is currently working on a project led by Dr. Ben Livneh and Dr. Kasprzyk where she is researching improved streamflow forecasting methods using machine learning. Later in her graduate ...

Former Graduate Students

Dr. Nathan Bonham

PhDCo-advised by Prof. Edith Zagona
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
nathan.bonham@colorado.edu

Nathan graduated in Fall 2023 with the PhD in Civil Engineering with a focus on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics. He was co-advised by Prof. Edith Zagona.  His research focuses on bottom-up decision making frameworks for improved management of water supply in the Colorado River Basin. The research is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, with extra support from the GAANN fellowship program on revitalizing U.S. infrastructure. Nathan completed the BS at West Virginia Universi...

Dr. Jacob Kravits

PhDCo-advised by Prof. Kyri Baker
Civil Systems
kravitsjacob@gmail.com

Jacob Kravits graduated in Fall 2023 with the PhD in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Civil Systems. He was co-advised by Prof. Kyri Baker and was funded through the GAANN fellowship program for revitalizing U.S. infrastructure, as well as a graduate fellowship from the Water-Energy Nexus interdisciplinary research theme at CU Boulder. He published a study contributing a novel application of machine learning for dam hazard classification, and his further doctoral research focuses on integrated water re...

Sydney Walker

MS Student
Hydrology Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics
sydney.walker@colorado.edu

Sydney is currently pursuing her Master’s in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis in Environmental Change Adaptation. She is advised by Dr. Kasprzyk and will be researching machine-learning on snow-based streamflow predictions for drought predictability with him and Dr. Ben Livneh. She graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University and recently had a Global Sustainability Scholars Fellowship, exploring ocean multi-use with offshore wind. Sydney Walker is a driven and dedicat...

Brooke Ely

MS Student
Hydrology Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics
brooke.ely@colorado.edu

Brooke Ely is a masters student within the Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics Group. She is advised by Professor Joseph Kasprzyk. She is originally from Nashville, TN and did her undergrad at the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 2018 with a degree in Environmental Engineering and Peace Studies. After this she did two years of AmeriCorps. The first, serving as a GIS and Data Management Technician at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the second, working on a Ground...

Dr. Mikaela DeRousseau

PhDCo-advised by Prof. Wil Srubar
Civil Systems
mikaela.derousseau@colorado.edu

Mikaela DeRousseau defended her PhD dissertation in Summer 2020, co-advised by Prof. Kasprzyk and Prof. Wil Srubar. Her dissertation focuses on the development of a decision framework for sustainable concrete mixture design with the use of multi-objective analysis. In general, she is most interested in the engineering tradeoffs and decisions associated with sustainability, engineered systems, and materials. Prior to coming to CU, she obtained the MS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Fall 2016. She is ...

Dr. Billy Raseman

Ph.D.
Hydrology, Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics
William.Raseman@colorado.edu

Billy Raseman defended his PhD dissertation in May 2019. In Billy's thesis, he researched and developed modeling and optimization techniques to make drinking water treatment safer, more resilient, and cost-effective. His work is motivated by the increasing strain on the water sector due to population growth, aging infrastructure, climate change, and stringent regulations. Specifically, Billy developed a decision support tool that combines advances in stochastic water quality, water treatment modeling, multi...

Dr. Rebecca Smith

Ph.D.
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS

Dr. Rebecca Smith graduated with an MS in Spring 2014 from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed her PhD in Fall 2017. Her degree concentration was Water Resources Engineering, and her emphasis and research focused on improving water management strategies to incorporate multiple conflicting objectives under tight supply and operational constraints. Her Master’s research linked an evolutionary algorithm with a complex RiverWare model to analyze critical supply points and policies for the Tarrant R...

Dr. Amy Piscopo

Ph.D.Co-advised by Prof. Roseanna Neupauer
Environmental Engineering

Dr. Amy Piscopo completed her doctoral degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in Fall 2015.  Amy was co-advised by Roseanna Neupauer, and Joseph Kasprzyk, where her dissertation research advanced new approaches for active spreading strategies to remediate contaminated aquifers considering different contaminants and aquifer properties. Amy has presented this research at numerous international conferences organized by the American Geophysical Union, Environmental Water Resources Institute, and Society...

Sung Min Kim

M.S.Advised by Prof. Kyri Baker, Co-advised by Prof. Kasprzyk
Civil Systems
Sung.Kim-3@colorado.edu

Sung Min Kim graduated with the MS in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Civil Systems. She was advised by Professor Kyri Baker and co-advised by Prof. Kasprzyk, and was funded through the GAANN fellowship program for revitalizing U.S. infrastructure, as well as a graduate fellowship from the Water-Energy Nexus Interdisciplinary Research Theme at CU Boulder. She graduated with the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University in Spring 2019.  At Cornell, she was the subteam lea...

Courtlyn Carpenter

M.S. Student
Environmental Engineering
courtlyn.carpenter@colorado.edu

Courtlyn graduated from the University of Colorado (CU) with her B.S. in Environmental Engineering in 2018 and the M.S. in Environmental Engineering in Spring 2020. Her Master's research was co-advised by Professor Kasprzyk at CU and Dr. Kimberly Wickland at the United States Geological Society (USGS). Working in partnership with the USGS, her research focuses on carbon exports from wetlands through the aquatic pathway. Wetlands are substantial contributors to the global carbon budget, but there are signifi...

Melissa Estep

MS
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
melissa.estep@colorado.edu

Melissa Estep graduated with the MS degree in Civil Engineering, with an emphasis on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics, in Spring 2019. Her research focused on the impacts of water markets and improved forecasting for the Elqui River Basin in Chile, collaborating with Prof. Paul Block and Dr. Justin Delorit from the University of Wisconsin. Melissa graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California, where ...

Brendan Purcell

MS
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
brendan.purcell@colorado.edu

Brendan Purcell completed the MS Degree in Civil Enginering, focusing on Hydrology, Water Resources and Environmental Fluid Mechanics, in Spring 2019. His research created a framework for analyzing hydrologic impacts to a variety of downstream stakeholders arising from consumptive uses of reclaimed water, in particular for thermoelectric power plant cooling. The work was a collaboration with Prof. Ashlynn Stillwell at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and funded by the Water-Energy Nexus interd...

Leah Bensching

MS
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
Leah.Bensching@colorado.edu

Leah Bensching obtained the MS in Civil Engineering in Spring 2019. Focusing on Hydrology, Water Resources, and Environmental Fluid Mechanics, she was advised by Prof. Ben Livneh and co-advised by Prof. Kasprzyk. Her research applied a hydrologic sediment ensemble model to help improve predictions of reservoir sedimentation, exploring how sediment model parameter sensitivity affected the distribution of model outputs. Prior to coming to CU, she completed the BS in civil engineering in 2016 from Santa Clara ...

Elliot Alexander

M.S.Hydraulic Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation
ealexander@usbr.gov

Elliot Alexander is a Hydraulic Engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado Region, and is currently on assignment at CADSWES. Elliot is a former graduate student at CU and earned a MS in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His present work activities include, researching long-term operating policies in the Colorado River Basin using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA), performing hydrologic and salinity analysis using the Colorado River Simulation System (CR...

Nathan Stambaugh

M.S.Co-advised by Prof. Wil Srubar
ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING

Nathan Stambaugh graduated in Spring 2017 with a concurrent BS/MS degree in Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-advised by Dr. Kasprzyk and Dr. Wil V. Srubar III for his work in developing a decision framework for sustainable concrete mixture design utilizing a multi-objective analysis. His interests lie in improving sustainable practices for practicing engineers through increasing the decision making tools they have access to. From Colorado, he has a strong desire to i...

Matthew Alongi

M.S.
Civil Systems

Matthew Alongi graduated with the M.S. in Civil Systems within Civil Engineering in Spring 2017. Matthew’s research focused on quantitative policy analysis to analyze air quality impacts of setback distance regulations for oil and gas production, as part of the NSF-funded AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network. Throughout his undergraduate program, where he received a BS in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, he was involved with Engineers Without Borders and traveled to Tha...

Tim Clarkin

M.S.Collaboration with Prof. Jon Herman (UC Davis)
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS

Tim Clarkin graduated with an M.S. in Civil Systems Engineering, with a focus in Water Engineering and a certificate in Engineering for Developing Communities, in Spring 2016. Tim is a participant in the DoD SMART Scholarship program, which funds his degree and research while at CU and provides employment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upon degree completion. Eventually, Tim would like to work on water supply systems in water scarce regions and developing communities — especially East Africa. Tim’s M...

Elizabeth Houle

M.S.
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS

Elizabeth Houle graduated with a MS from CU Boulder in Spring 2015, in water resources engineering. Her research focused on linking the relationships between snow, hydrology, and decision outputs for water resources modeling. While pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia, Liz performed research concerning the implementation of sustainable engineering projects in developing countries via a combination of technical expertise and cultural awareness....

Abigail Watson

M.S.
HYDROLOGY, WATER RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS

Abby Watson graduated with a MS in Spring 2015.  Her work focused on improving robust decision making techniques through the use of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 2012, Abby worked at the Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) (Army Corps of Engineers research laboratory) in Alexandria, Virginia through the DoD SMART Scholarship. At TEC, Abby’s research included understanding the systemic interactions between the environment and people and developing methods fo...

Former Undergraduate Students

John Lee

BS Student
Computer ScienceAPPLIED MATHEconomics

John Lee is an undergraduate student studying Computer Science, Applied Math, and Economics. He is a research assistant under the Discovery Learning Apprenticeship program, assisting Prof. Kasprzyk in researching multi-objective evolutionary algorithms to solve constrained optimization problems.

Max Nyffenegger

B.S. Student
Mechanical Engineering

Max Nyffenegger is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Computer Science. As part of the SPUR undergraduate research program, Max is joining the AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network to further understand the effects of new oil and gas developments. He will be running air quality simulations and policy analysis to inform setback distance regulations for oil and gas development. Some of his interests include renewable energy and battery technology. In his free time Max en...

Jacob Tiede

B.S. Student
APPLIED MATH
jacob.tiede@colorado.edu

Jacob Tiede began undergraduate studies in Applied Math in 2015. He will be researching Concrete Optimization with Mikaela DeRousseau and Prof. Kasprzyk during the 2018-2019 academic year. Professionally, his main interests are in optimization of natural resources as well as topics in biology and medicine. When he has time he enjoys playing guitar and piano as well as skiing and biking.

Josh Jacobson

B.S. Student
APPLIED MATH
joja7332@colorado.edu

Josh Jacobson began undergraduate degrees in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at CU Boulder in Fall 2015. He is interested in pairing these studies with environmental applications and ​recently added a minor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. His Discovery Learning Apprenticeship undergraduate research involves the development of an interactive web application using multi-objective analysis to help water utilities make informed decisions regarding risk and climate extremes. In general, Josh’s goal...

Patrick Vernon

B.S.
CIVIL ENGINEERING

Patrick Vernon graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in Spring 2017 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering focused in Water Resources. He began working with the Kasprzyk research group in late fall 2016 as an undergraduate contributor, collaborating with Billy Raseman on the EPA project on extremes and water quality.  Patrick’s work uses multi-objective optimization with water treatment plant simulation models to help water treatment operators become more resilient to scenarios of climate extremes and...

Claire Howard

B.S. Student

Claire Howard, a proud Colorado native, joined the Kasprzyk research group during the summer of 2015 while she pursued a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University. Claire supported the NSF-funded AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network while working with the Kasprzyk group. In this role, Claire developed reports on legal and technical documents related to the social and economic implications of unconventional oil and gas development. Claire's research experience with the Kasprzyk gr...

Research group in Fall 2018