Welcome to the Flood Lab!
We are thrilled to have you join our research group at the University of Colorado Boulder, affiliated with the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) department and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). Together, we strive to do high-impact science that advances our understanding of hydrology, extreme weather, and climate resilience. This lab manual provides essential background on our group's culture, expectations, and research processes.
Mission and Values
At Flood Lab, we thrive to advance scientific understanding and practical adaptation and mitigation of floods through the integration of AI, remote sensing, and physical modeling.
Research Focus: the research agenda advances under the SURGE Flood Lab framework: Source Understanding diagnoses atmospheric contributions to flood-producing storms using multi-source data from remote sensing, in-situ measurements, and warning messages; Unifying Models integrates physical hydrologic-hydraulic (H&H) models with AI for rapid, interpretable flood computations; Risk Communication adopts a bottom-up approach, tailoring warnings to individual profiles for equitable dissemination; and Global & Sectoral Evaluation assesses cross-sectoral impacts holistically. Central to this is launching the Flood-Agriculture-Climate-Ecology-Diseases (FACED) Collaboratory.
Open Science and Impact: We are deeply committed to open science. We actively develop software frameworks and Google Earth Engine dashboards, making our findings and tools accessible. Our research is problem-driven, often intersecting with environmental justice and community-based participatory research, particularly regarding climate risks for Native American tribes.
Diversity and Inclusion: Justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to our work. We actively promote diverse participation in hydrology and strive to dismantle systemic biases in science.
Expectations and Responsibilities
Self-Motivation and Ownership: You must be self-motivated. Your success is in your hands, and you are working for your own academic and professional development, not just working for me. Take ownership of your projects, be proactive in your problem-solving, and drive your research forward.
Scientific Integrity: Prioritize careful, reproducible science. Double-check your code, incorporate automatic tests, and be transparent about your methods. We heavily utilize GitHub and open-source practices, so your code should be clean and well-documented.
Mentorship and Collaboration: We practice generosity in sharing our expertise. You are expected to respect your collaborators, provide constructive feedback, and engage actively in our shared scientific community.
Graduation: I expect you to have three high-quality publications to defend your PhD. This choice is made based on the competitive landscape of finding a postdoc position and faculty position. If your intention is to get into industry, please clearly state that during our first meeting and we can navigate different expectations. In general, three Computer Science conference papers are expected.
Timelines: You are responsible for finding the important dates over your PhD journey such as Preliminary Exam, Comprehensive Exam. Tell me when you’re ready for it and we can coordinate.
Degree requirements: PhD (https://catalog.colorado.edu/graduate/degree-requirements/doctoral-degree-requirements/) and Master (https://catalog.colorado.edu/graduate/degree-requirements/masters-degree-requirements/)
Ad Hoc Requests and Prioritization: Because we are an active lab frequently pursuing funding, I may sometimes have ad hoc requests for you to assist with tasks such as writing proposals or data analysis. Please prioritize these requests when they arise. If you are ever unclear about the timeline for an ad hoc task or how it fits into your current workload, please speak out immediately so we can adjust expectations and ensure you have the time you need.
Ownership
The principle of ownership means each lab member takes full responsibility for their research projects. This includes: