WEST is pleased to announce that Dr. Luciana Kindl Da Cunha has been promoted to vice president. She will manage WEST’s Folsom, California, office. Dr. Cunha joined WEST in 2015 as a senior engineer and she has over 20 years of international experience in hydrology and water resources engineering. Her development of state-of-the-art methods and tools for hydrologic and water resources applications has made her an invaluable asset to numerous projects. She succeeds Dr. David C. Curtis, who will be moving into the role of senior technical advisor.

About this promotion, Dr. Curtis shared, “In my now 50-year career I have had the honor to work with many talented hydrologists. Luciana is at the very top of that list. More importantly, her incredible technical skills are balanced with great insight and humanity. She is highly respected by her colleagues and clients, and a joy to work with. Luciana is an excellent addition to WEST’s senior management team and a great choice to lead WEST’s Folsom office into the future.”

Dr. Cunha’s experience at WEST includes hydrologic modeling, hydrologic risk characterization and assessments, hydrometeorological data collection and analysis, multi-sensor (radar, satellite, and gage) rainfall estimation, climate change analysis, and developing drought contingency plans (DCPs). She is currently working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the development of the Next Generation Water Modeling Framework (NextGen). Dr. Cunha is leading a project for the Oregon Water Resources Department to assess the role of atmospheric rivers (AR) on extreme precipitation estimates, especially probable maximum precipitation (PMP), in the coastal mountains of Oregon.

Dr. Cunha is leading multiple projects focusing on development of standard for design storms over large and heterogeneous areas (Texas, Arizona, and the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest). Her experience also includes developing observed and projected precipitation depth-duration-frequency curves, probable maximum floods, and climate-change-influenced DCPs; developing and implementing streamflow forecast tools using soil moisture data for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); and analyzing drought and flood vulnerability given climate change.