We’re delighted to announce that Vice President Dr. Luciana Kindl da Cunha has been elected President-Elect of the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH). Dr. Cunha has over 20 years of international experience in hydrology and water resources engineering. She will serve alongside current AIH President, Salam Murtada, for the next two years.

I am honored to serve as the AIH President-Elect and am grateful for the trust the board and AIH members have placed in me. I strongly believe in the AIH mission of enhancing and strengthening the standing of hydrology as a science and profession, especially in today’s world, with water resources needing qualified attention. I am happy to serve AIH and committed to continuing to build on successes, foster innovation, and strengthen our great national and international community of hydrologists. Most importantly, I look forward to working with the board, AIH members, and our collaborators.

~Vice President, Luciana Kindl da Cunha, PhD, PH

Starting her career in Brazil, Dr. Cunha engineered an integrated system for hydrologic forecasting and multiple-use reservoir operation optimization. She followed a NASA-supported PhD with a postdoctoral at Princeton University, where she further developed multiple skills. She joined WEST in 2015. 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. Most recently, she served as AIH Director of Institute Development.

AIH was incorporated in 1981 to enhance and strengthen the standing of hydrology as a science and profession. It establishes standards and procedures to certify individuals qualified in surface-water, groundwater, and water-quality hydrology. AIH maintains ethical standards to protect the public from irresponsible work. It provides education and training in hydrology. Additionally, AIH offers advice and guidance concerning activities related to the hydrologic profession.

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Dr. Cunha’s experience at WEST includes hydrologic modeling, hydrologic risk characterization and assessments, hydrometeorological data collection and analysis, multi-sensor rainfall estimation, climate change analysis, and developing drought contingency plans. Also, she currently works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the development of the Next Generation Water Modeling Framework (NextGen). Dr. Cunha leads a project for the Oregon Water Resources Department to assess the role of atmospheric rivers on extreme precipitation estimates, especially probable maximum precipitation (PMP), in the coastal mountains of Oregon. She also leads multiple projects focusing on the development of standards for design storms over large and heterogeneous areas (Texas, Arizona, and the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest).

To read more about Dr. Cunha’s career, see: https://www.westconsultants.com/about-us/luciana-kindl-da-cunha/.

To learn more about AIH, including how to become a member, visit: https://www.aihydrology.org.

WEST is an internationally recognized water resources engineering firm with offices in Arizona, California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. With 70 highly trained professionals, WEST specializes in addressing complex water resource challenges like flood risk management.