Senior Researcher And Consultant In Flood Risk Management
CurrentIn 2007, I found myself in the Netherlands, a land heavily threatened by water, with a rich history in and extreme commitment to flood protection. With a Bachelor's degree in Physics and a Master's degree in Hydrology, I began my integration into the country by coming to work at the research institute Deltares, in the department of flood risk analysis, focusing primarily on statistical analysis of load variables, like wind, river discharge and sea water level. In 2010 I became involved in the development of probabilistic tools that would be at the heart of a new risk-based method to assess flood defenses in the Netherlands. My work focused on the development of Hydra-Ring, a probabilistic model to calculate failure probabilities of flood defense systems, accounting for temporal and spatial variability, as well as numerous failure mechanisms. In 2012, I began my PhD at the Delft University of Technology. My research involved the application of Bayesian Networks to the problem of levee system reliability. I devoted substantial attention to validating key algorithms in the Hydra-Ring model, which were previously untested. I also focused on using performance data and expert opinion to update system failure probabilities.Since early 2017, my focus has moved towards long-term decision-making under uncertainty. I have carried out two asset management projects in the Netherlands, one in which we derived a risk-based strategy for levee-heightening under uncertain subsidence rates for the Dutch Water Board HHNK, and another in which we derive inspection and maintenance frequencies for the Oesterdam (one of the Dutch Delta Works) to ensure risk remains below required thresholds. I have been involved in the application of Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) to assess alternative adaptation strategies in Miami, Florida, and am currently leading the Deltares contribution to a large-scale DAPP analysis for a master watershed plan in Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana.
