Dr. Zach Cobell is a senior researcher with The Water Institute’s Applied Technology division, focused on the translation of applied research into digital solutions to support the Institute’s vision to reduce vulnerabilities to people, communities, environments and economies. As the lead developer of the FloodID system, Cobell’s professional focus is on the development of scalable and interoperable tools to support emergency managers in preparation and response to flood events.
Cobell graduated with a degree in civil engineering and environmental engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2010. During his time at Notre Dame, he traveled to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and toured areas impacted by the storm. From that experience, he developed an interest in the numerical modeling of hurricane events and began conducting research in the university’s Computational Hydraulics Lab under Dr. Joannes Westerink.
Since graduating, Cobell has helped lead numerical modeling studies throughout the United States, including the storm surge and wave analysis for the 2012, 2017, and 2023 Louisiana Coastal Master Plans. He has also worked extensively on the optimization of numerical models in high performance computing environments. Additionally, Cobell is the maintainer of the ADCIRC hydrodynamic model, which is used by state and federal government entities within the United States and around the world to simulate coastal and riverine hydrodynamic processes efficiently at scale.
Project Title
- “Evaluation of Operational Modeling Frameworks and Model Coupling for Water Level Forecasting”
