José D. Salas, PhD.

Professor Emeritus

Civil and Environmental Engineering


Fields of Expertise

Hydrology, Natural Disasters: Flood, Fire, and Drought, Statistics, Water Management and Planning

Areas of Interest

Drought characterization, Long range streamflow forecasting, Stochastic analysis and simulation of hydrologic processes, Risk analysis and modeling of extreme events under non-stationary conditions, Effect of climate variability and change in water resources Uncertainty analysis in hydrology and hydraulics


Biography

José D. Salas received his B.S. and C.E. degrees from the National University of Engineering of Lima, Perú. He specialized in water resources at Colorado State University (CSU), where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Salas has been Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSU during 1976-2011 and currently he is Professor Emeritus. He has about 50 years of experience in various aspects of water resources including hydrology, hydraulics, and water resources planning and management. Prior to joining CSU, Dr. Salas worked for the National Hydraulics Laboratory of Perú, the Irrigation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of Perú, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Interamerican Center for Water and Land Development (CIDIAT), Venezuela. At CSU Dr. Salas has been responsible for teaching and research in the general area of hydrology and water resources. He has taught several undergraduate and graduate courses, organized and taught short courses and training programs, and supervised (Advisor) of 43 M.S. and 37 Ph.D. students. Dr. Salas has been principal investigator of research projects related to: flood prediction, drought analysis and prediction, stochastic modeling and generation of hydrologic processes, water supply forecasting, prediction of short term rainfall, impacts of climatic changes on agriculture, modeling streamflow in arid regions, modeling and simulation of the Nile River System, modeling and simulation of the Great Lakes System, operation and safety studies of reservoir systems, and stochastic hydrology of the Colorado River system. In addition, Dr. Salas conducted research projects and consulting activities for national and international organizations such as NSF, NOAA, USDA, USGS, USBR, AID, World Bank, FAO, HydroQuebec, IICA, and Conalvias, Bucaramanga, Colombia.