Wu, Hong

Born and raised in a beautiful small town in southeastern China where water is less of an issue, I developed a strong interest in sustainable urban development, stream restoration and water resource management after my 7-year college education in Beijing where the last sign of living water had vanished because of massive population growth and economic development.  I came to the U.S. for a search of ways to “cure” the urban water syndrome.  However, very soon I realized the necessityof rephrasing the word “cure”, and that a Ph.D. dissertation can only fulfill very limited portion of my innocent ambition, however complicated it turns out to be.  Titled “Protecting Stream Ecosystem Health in the face of Rapid Urbanization and Climate Change”, my dissertation explores the combined effects of urbanization and climate change on stream ecosystems, and potential strategies to mitigate the impacts.  In particular, I focus on the effectiveness of watershed-scale stormwater Best Management Practices(BMPs), and of alternative urban development patterns, for conserving aquatic ecosystem health.  Because of the timescales, uncertainties and complexities of these interactions, I investigate these issues through simulation modeling.