Al Preston, Ph.D., P.E. Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, California, United States

Los Angeles, California

Pasadena, California

Analyses, review, and management of projects involving numerous facets of water, including desalination plant brine disposal, sub-surface seawater intakes for desalination plants, embankment dam breach, river hydraulics, climate change and sea-level rise, and hydrodynamic and water quality modeling of lakes, reservoirs, estuaries and coastal ocean environments.

Pasadena, California

Conduct, supervise, and manage lake modeling projects, including labor assignments, budget tracking, and schedule management. Develop and write proposals, scopes of work, and budgets for several successful modeling projects (with individual modeling budgets up to US$500k). Conceived, developed, and wrote technical scopes of work and budgets for applications to Water Research Foundation and WaterSMART (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) grants, including successful awarding of multiple grants (with research project costs exceeding US$700k) to model and evaluate effects of climate change on water quality and eutrophication in major reservoirs and lakes in the Southwest U.S.Demonstrated ability for client to increase water yield of natural run-off to a reservoir by more than 30% through optimization of operations and water imports. Initiated investigation and used machine learning (a.k.a. data mining) techniques to develop efficient rainfall/run-off model for reservoir catchment. Performed analysis of measured and simulated salinity data to advise clients of impacts of Bay-Delta Conservation Program (BDCP) on ability to use water within the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta. Identified historical mis-calculations of compensation payments (totaling more than $2M) due to a technical mis-interpretation of historical contract.Review and prepare technical reports, conduct literature searches, and present project results to clients and at technical conferences in the U.S. and abroad. Publish in peer-reviewed journals.

Pasadena, California

Performed three-dimensional hydrodynamic, water quality, and Monte-Carlo simulations and authored reports in support of lake and reservoir infrastructure projects with combined capital costs exceeding US$2.3B. Identified need to raise elevation of Lake Mead third drinking water intake (presently under construction with capital costs >US$800M) by 40 feet to avoid storm-water and effluent inflows. Provided model results used in Final EIS for deep-water discharge into Lake Mead and presented evidence of model validation to Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) at a comprehensive two-day workshop. Conceived, developed, and implemented Monte-Carlo scheme to optimize port elevations for outlet tower on dam-raise project in Southern California. Conducted simulations of water quality changes due to water exchange between two reservoirs for a pump-back hydro-electric generation scheme. Presented project results to clients and at conferences.

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Set-up and executed three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality simulations for several lakes and reservoirs. Plotted, animated, and interpreted simulation results. Authored reports for clients. Developed scripts to enable automation of previously manual processes to reduce cost to clients and enable quality checking.

Pasadena, California

Member of research group investigating the physics of bubbly liquids through numerical simulations. Developed reduced-order model to better describe attenuation of oscillating bubble due to heat and mass transfer effects. Successfully computed the propagation of unsteady bubbly shock waves in a converging-diverging nozzle.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Performed scale model tests of inflow channels and penstock intakes of a large hydro-electric power scheme. Responsibilities included flow measurement, flow visualization, and design modification to ensure even flow and to prevent air entrainment.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Mechanical Engineering

Activities and Societies: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society of Professional Students (SOPS), Collegiate Rugby Team, Squash.

Master Of Science (M.S.), Civil Engineering, 3.8/4.0

Activities and Societies: Society of Professional Students (SOPS), Collegiate Rugby Team, Squash Team Robert T. and Pearl Knapp Fellowship

Master Of Engineering (M.Eng.), Mechanical Engineering

Investigated development of a numerical finite-element model to simulate the structural dynamics of car tires, including the visco-elastic.

Bachelor Of Engineering (B.E.), Civil Engineering, 10.96 / 12.00 (First Class Honours)

Activities and Societies: Engineering Society (ENSOC) Civil Engineering Prize, 1994 Morris Prize in Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering.