Welcome to GIS Day 2011: GIS Modeling Symposium at University of Notre Dame

Dr. Anthony Vodacek

Dr. Vodacek is an Associate Professor at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Vodacek received his M.S. and PhD from Cornell University in 1985 and 1990 respectively in Environmental Engineering and received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. His research interests involve Integrating Remote Sensing and Environmental Modeling: Remote Detection of Wildland Fire and Passive and Active Remote Sensing of Water Quality. He also has expertise in Dynamic Data Driven Application System, Imaging Spectroscopy, Feature Extraction from Hyperspectral Data and Fourier Analysis of Landscape Metrics. He is currently working on Environmental Modeling and Remote Sensing in Rwanda and in a collaborative research project with NSF titled, Data Dynamic Simulation for Disaster Management. His past projects involve Integrating Remote Sensing with Water Quality Modeling for Prediction of Beach Closures at Ontario Beach and Hyperspectral Imaging of Benthic Algae Habitat along the Southern Shoreline of Lake Ontario. [Abstract]

Dr. Dmitry Beletsky

Dr. Beletsky has been an Assistant Research Scientist at the SNRE Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (joint Institute between University of Michigan and NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory) since 1995. He received his PhD in 1992 in Limnology/Oceanography from Russian Academy of Sciences and M.S. in 1982 in Marine Engineering from the Russian State Hydrometeorological University in St.Petersburg, Russia. His research expertise lies in the hydrodynamics of lakes and coupling lake physics with biological processes. Since the beginning of his career in limnology in Russia, he has worked on hydrodynamics and climatology of several large lakes in Europe (Ladoga and Onega), North America (Lake Champlain, Lake St. Clair, Lakes Michigan, Erie, Ontario and Huron), and the Baltic Sea. His major scientific interest is climatology and long-term changes of circulation patterns in the Great Lakes. He has been awarded the Chandler-Misener Award, International Association for Great Lakes Research in 2008; the Scientific Achievement Award, CILER, University of Michigan in 2007; Outstanding Scientific Paper Award, NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research in 2006 and Best Scientific Paper Award, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in 2004. [Abstract]

Dr. Venkatesh Merwade

Dr. Merwade is an Assistant Professor at the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Purdue University in 2006-2007. Merwade was also Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Research in Water Resources at the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 - 2006. He received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 and M. S. in Engineering Hydrology from the National University of Ireland in 2000. His research interest involves GIS applications in water resources engineering with specific focus on river channels; surface water hydrology; hydraulics; fluid mechanics and water quality modeling. Merwade is the Co-recipient of the 2011 Quentin Martin Best Practice Paper Award for the journal article, Linking GIS, Hydraulic Modeling, and Tabu Search for Optimizing a Water Level- Monitoring Network in South Florida, in the ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. He was awarded with the 2010 Outstanding Reviewer for the ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. He is the winner of the Irish Government Fellowship Award for pursuing MSc (Hydrology) in Ireland in 1999 and ranked first at the May 1997 Bachelor of Engineering exams at Shivaji University, India. Merwade is affiliated with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Geophysical Union and the American Water Resources Association. [Abstract]

Dr. Joseph V. DePinto

Dr. DePinto is a Senior Scientist at LimnoTech. He has extensive experience, including 27 years as a Professor of Environmental Engineering, conducting aquatic system research, education and management programs with an emphasis on activities in the Great Lakes region. Through his work on topics such as nutrient cycling-eutrophication, toxic chemical exposure and bioaccumulation, contaminated sediment assessment and remediation, aquatic ecosystem structure and functioning, and watershed, river, estuary, and lake modeling, DePinto has become internationally recognized as a leader in the development and application of surface water models to address aquatic ecosystem issues. Dr. DePinto's studies have led to over 150 publications. He has also worked on numerous councils, task forces, and advisory groups on water quality research and management. [Abstract]

Todd Redder

Mr. Redder is a Senior Environmental and Water Resources Engineer whose principal expertise is the development and application of mathematical models for the evaluation of hydrodynamics, water quality, sediment transport, contaminant fate and transport and ecosystem response in watersheds, rivers, lakes, and estuarine systems. He has served as the technical lead on numerous projects, including a wide range of complex, multi-dimensional modeling applications. Redder has also applied his computer programming and database skills to develop an extensive collection of modeling and data analysis tools and database/GIS applications for both internal use and client use. He serves as a company-wide resource for modeling and computer programming needs. [Abstract]