In Summer 2018, Elliot Alexander graduated with his Master of Science degree in Hydrology, Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics within Civil Engineering. Elliot's Master's research, co-advised with Dr. Edith Zagona, focused on generating and identifying robust Lake Mead reservoir operating policies. In this research, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) was coupled with the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ River Simulation System (CRSS) RiverWare model to generate and evaluate thousands of new operating policies for Lake Mead. The MOEA-generated policies were then re-simulated across multiple future water supply and water demand scenarios testing each policy’s performance across a wide range of plausible future uncertainty. This research identified multiple robust operating policies through applying a robustness analysis to the set of MOEA-generated policies. Our research team is currently adapting the findings from Elliot's research into a journal article, and the work is ongoing. Elliot had the following quote about his time at ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥:
My time at ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Boulder was an invaluable experience where I sharped my analytical and technical skills to become a more confident engineer. The friends and connections that I made during my graduate studies have opened career opportunities and helped me land the job I currently have.
After graduation, Elliot has been working as a Hydrologic Engineer with the and is currently on assignment at the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES) in Boulder, ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥. Elliot's present work activities at the Bureau of Reclamation includes, continuing to explore long-term operating policies in the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ River Basin using a MOEA, performing hydrologic and salinity analysis using the CRSS RiverWare model, and assisting in the consumptive uses and losses reporting for the Upper ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ River Basin.