David J. Harris

David Jeffrey Harris, PH, is a senior technical leader in hydrology and hydraulics with 40 years of experience with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Harris’ national and international experience includes hydrologic modeling, unsteady flow modeling, precipitation analysis, regional analysis, risk analysis, and interior flooding, along with extensive training experience.

Prior to joining WEST Consultants in 2013, Mr. Harris was Chief of the Hydrology and Hydraulics Technology Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Institute for Water Resources, Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) in Davis, CA. There, Mr. Harris led HEC’s development, application, and training for the most widely used hydrology and hydraulics modeling software in the world, including River Analysis Systems (HEC-RAS, HEC-GeoRAS), Hydrologic Modeling Systems (HEC-HMS, HEC-GeoHMS), and the Statistical Software Package (HEC-SSP). While at HEC he extended the USACE H&H software and procedures to many international locations. His USACE career began in 1977 at the Sacramento District Office in the Floodplain Management Section. He moved to Hydrology the following year and spent the next 23 years working in Hydrology and Hydraulics before moving to HEC in 2001.

Mr. Harris was a member of the USACE National Technical Committee, Committee on Hydrology, where he has served as the Vice Chairman and Chairman. He was a USACE Subject Matter Expert (SME) in several areas of Hydrology and Hydraulics and was the lead for the USACE Surface Water modeling Community of Practice. He led several large studies including the hydraulic model development for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Comprehensive Study, the Interior Modeling Team of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Team post Hurricane Katrina, and worked with three Mississippi River USACE offices on the development of HEC-RAS models for the Lower Mississippi River.

Additionally, Mr. Harris has provided training on HEC software in the U.S. and internationally. He has represented the USACE at meetings, conferences and training in 13 separate countries.