Report by NAE Member David R. Maidment

On October 31, 2019, at the invitation of Prof. ZHANG Jianyun, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, David R. Maidment, member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and also professor at the University of Texas-Austin, USA, made a report titled National Water Model of the United States at NHRI Water Science Frontier Forum. The Forum was hosted by Prof. ZHANG with over 120 attendees comprised of NHRI researchers and graduate students.

Prof. Maidment first introduced the development of the US national flood forecasting model, then presented the model’s objectives, driving data, and forecasting accuracy, and showed its practical application at both national and local scales in the United States.

Prof. Maidment has long been engaged in teaching and research of surface hydrology and GIS application in the field of hydrology and water resources. He was the editor of many high-level academic journals such as the Journal of Hydrology. He was also the co-author of the Applied Hydrology and editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Hydrology which has been used worldwide.

The attendees spoke highly of Prof. Maidment’s excellent report and asked questions in terms of building a similar water model in China. Prof. Maidment answered the questions detailedly and patiently, and expressed his willingness to carry out future cooperation on Chinese water models.

The report inspired NHRI researchers and graduate students on the one hand and provided NHRI an opportunity to cooperate with world-class universities or research institutions on the other. It also played an important role in promoting NHRI research strength and international academic influence.