Daniel Obenour

Bio

Dan Obenour is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University.  He is also a faculty fellow at the University’s Center for Geospatial Analytics.  He received his BS, MS, and PhD from the Universities of Akron (2002), Texas at Austin (2004), and Michigan (2013), respectively.  He also has several years of experience in environmental and water resources consulting, and he completed a postdoctoral position based at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in 2014.

Dr. Obenour’s research focuses on the development and application of probabilistic (e.g., Bayesian) models for predicting water-quality outcomes in aquatic systems under varying management and climate scenarios.  This research includes interdisciplinary collaborations with fisheries biologists, physical oceanographers, research statisticians, and others.  His models have been used in annual forecasts of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia for inland and coastal systems including Lake Erie, the northern Gulf of Mexico, and the Neuse River Estuary.  His research also encompasses data-driven pollutant fate and transport modeling in regional watersheds.

Obenour has particular interest in assessing and managing nutrient cycling and related eutrophication issues.  Recent projects include simulating phosphorus dynamics in western Lake Erie and assessing phosphorus loading and retention in regional watersheds.  These models allow us to assess the potential benefits of nutrient management strategies in robust, data-driven frameworks with rigorous uncertainty quantification.

Dr. Obenour’s teaching includes courses in Hydrology and Urban Water Systems, Surface Water Quality Modeling, Stochastic Methods, and Statistical Optimization of Environmental Models. He serves on multiple academic and professional committees, including the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership (APNEP) Science and Technical Advisory Committee.

Area(s) of Expertise

Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering