Interests
Our research interests lie at the intersection of water resources engineering, hydrologic sciences, and geomorphology. Our goal is to advance the understanding of how topographic patterns arise, evolve, and interact with climate and ecosystems, in order to improve predictions of the response of the Earth-surface to disturbance and change and develop sustainable management solutions. We focus in particular on channel networks and connectivity (structural, functional, and process connectivity) in river deltas, watersheds, and urban environments.
Our research merges the analysis of remote sensing data (high resolution topographic data - lidar - and satellite imagery), numerical modeling, statistical analysis, and field work. Specific research topics related to current sponsored projects include the transport of environmental fluxes through the Wax Lake Delta (LA); surface network and surface-subsurface connectivity in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta; flood inundation mapping and emergency response at continental scale.
Fun fact: my name means 'the water passes'...that is where the name of the team comes from...
Dr. Passalacqua is a Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
She received a PhD in Civil Engineering in 2009 from the University of Minnesota.
Photo: Paola visiting the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta.
Want to learn more about our research?
The first video describes some of our flooding research, while the second video provides an example of our research in deltas.
We study the transport of water, solids, and solutes along river and delta networks. The hydrological connectivity of channels and islands in river deltas is an example of the processes we study (photo: Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana).