In this area of digital assistants, robots, and other smart things, can we build the same level of autonomy into water systems? There is an unprecedented opportunity to reduce flooding and to improve water quality by equipping existing water systems with low-cost sensors and controllers. This will vastly shrink the size of infrastructure needed to manage runoff pollution and to adapt to the impacts of changing weather. We will give examples of promising smart water test beds, while also describing how to find useful data in unexpected places.

Bio:
Branko Kerkez is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan. His research interests include water, data, and sensors. His group is working to enable smart water systems, which autonomously adapt themselves to changing conditions using real-time data and controls. His research projects have spanned wireless sensing of large mountain basis, real-time flood forecasting, aquatic robotics, and the development of real-time control algorithms for water systems. He is the founder of Open-Storm.org, an open source consortium dedicated to freely sharing hardware, software, and case studies on smart water systems. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, all from UC Berkeley. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award and was recognized by National Academy of Engineering as a Gilbreth Lecturer in 2018.