Earth Day 2024: Be a part of AIH’s story week.

Earth Day 2024 | April 22 | Planet vs. Plastics

Be a part of AIH’s Story Week!

EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement worldwide. It is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries.

AIH wants to showcase members’ Earth Day activities to help educate others about the importance of our environment.

Be a part of the AIH story week and tell us how you, your company, and/or your community, are actively participating in an Earth Day activity.

In addition to supporting EARTHDAY.ORG’s 2024 goal to demand a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040, there are lots of ways you can take part. Example activities might include:

To participate in our story week, please email admin@ahydrology.org the following by Friday, April 12:

  • Brief description of your activity/event.
  • Event date.
  • Relevant photos.
  • Your social media handles for X (twitter), Facebook, and/or LinkedIn. We’d love to tag you so users can see your good work.

We’ll highlight your work during our story week between April 17-22, 2024! Thank you for being a part of this important initiative that is so impactful for our hydrology community.

AIH announces a Call for Nominations for its Board of Directors

The organization seeks candidates for three open positions. Nominations are due March 1, 2024.

  1. Director of Academic Affairs
  2. Director of Communications
  3. Director of International Affairs
The terms for each position will begin as soon as elected. The term of the elected position is for four years.
 AIH invites and encourages its members to consider applying for these positions. You may nominate yourself or another eligible member.  Learn more about the materials needed to submit a nomination under each description below.

AIH appreciates your interest. If you have any questions, please contact the AIH Board Office at (540) 500-1933 or admin@aihydrology.org.
Director of Academic Affairs

Candidate Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for this position, the candidate must be an AIH member in good standing, and must be either a P.H. or a Hydrologic Technician Level III.

Responsibilities:
The Director of Academic Affairs shall have general responsibility for the certification program of the Institute; oversee student membership; and, in coordination with the Director of Institute Development, establish collaborative relationships with academic institutions to support the mission of the Institute.

Download the announcement & nomination requirements.
Director of Communications

Candidate Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for this position, the candidate must be an AIH member in good standing, and must be either a P.H. or a Hydrologic Technician Level III.

Responsibilities: 
The Director of Communication shall have the responsibility for review of correspondence to members and prospective members; assist the President with strategic planning; provide guidance to the newsletter and website committees; and generally, explore and present to the Board of Directors potential opportunities that increase the visibility of the Institute.

Download the announcement & nominations requirements.

Director of International Affairs

Candidate Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for this position, the candidate must be an AIH member in good standing, and must be either a P.H. or a Hydrologic Technician Level III.

Responsibilities:
The Director of International Affairs shall promote the Institute internationally through collaboration with organizations supporting the mission of the Institute, represent international members of the Institute, and assist in the planning for international activities.

Download the announcement & nomination requirements.

AIH Announces its Call for Award Nominations

The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) recognizes individuals for outstanding accomplishments in the fields of groundwater, surface water, water quality, and institute development. These awards are named after prominent hydrologists, who have made numerous lasting contributions to the hydrologic sciences.

The Call for Award Nominations is now open!  Nominations can be self-made or for someone else. AIH membership is not required.

To make a nomination, email a separate nomination packet for each nominee by February 29 to admin@aihydrology.org. Each packet must contain the following:

  1. A formal nomination letter by the nominator which contains:
    • The name of the award for which the nomination is being made.
    • The first/last name, email address, and phone number of the nominee.
    • The nominee’s education, career, and a record of performance detailing accomplishments and noteworthy impact achieved by the potential candidate.
  2. A current resume of the nominee.
  3. A minimum of two and maximum of four supporting letters with a limit of three pages each.
    • The supporting letters should include a brief statement about how they know the nominee and describe why the nominee is deserving of the award.
    • Award winners will be notified by AIH and the awards will be presented at an upcoming conference to be determined later in the year.

Click here to review the award categories, candidate criteria, and more details.

AIH announces a Call for Nominations for its Board of Directors: Treasurer

The organization seeks candidates for the position of Treasurer. Nominations are due February 9, 2024.

Candidate Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for the Treasurer position, the candidate must be an AIH member in good standing, and must be either a P.H. or a Hydrologic Technician Level III.

Treasurer Responsibilities:
The Treasurer will work with the future AIH Executive Director, AIH President and hired accountant to prepare and submit to the Board of Directors an annual budget and annual financial report, secure audits of Institute financial records, work with the accountant to prepare and file all documents required by the Internal Revenue Service and other state and federal agencies, actively seek gifts and grants for the Institute and generally manage financial affairs and resources of the Institute as directed by the Board of Directors.

Position Terms:
The terms for the position will begin as soon as elected. The term of the elected position is for four years.

Nomination Process:
AIH invites and encourages its members to consider applying for this position. You may nominate yourself or another eligible member. To be considered, please submit your nomination to admin@aihydrology.org by Friday, February 9, 2024.

A complete submission must include:

  1. Your name, professional title, email address, and preferred phone number.
  2. A statement that you are nominating yourself or another member. If nominating another member, please also provide their name, professional title, email address, and preferred phone number.
  3. The nominee’s statement of interest (maximum 150 words).
  4. The nominee’s professional biography (maximum 150 words).

AIH appreciates your interest. If you have any questions, please contact the AIH Board Office at (540) 500-1933 or admin@aihydrology.org.

Member News

Dr. Richard Koehler, PH, Ph.D., CEO (Visual Data Analytics, LLC)

The American Institute of Hydrology is pleased to share news of the publication of Dr. Richard Koehler’s article titled “Quantifying Streamflow Properties using a Calculus-Based Differential Approach” in the journal Ecohydrology (October 2023). Dr. Koehler’s paper introduces an innovative approach to quantify streamflow temporal configuration using the lag(1) temporal autocorrelation signature of stream flow. His novel approach allows us to visualize, identify and quantify hydrologic alteration, which is a significant improvement over prevailing methods that relies on statistical-based index parameters.

We also thank Dr. Koehler’s past contributions to AIH. On June 16, 2022, he presented a webinar for AIH, titled “A Novel Approach to Quantify Streamflow Properties” where he included an overview on the autocorrelation method. He also published two articles for the AIH Bulletin: “A Climate Condition Analysis Using Palmer Hydrologic Drought Index (PHDI) Values”, June 2023 and “The Lag-1 Hydrograph – An Alternate Way to Plot Streamflow Time-Series Data”, September 2022.

Professor John Nieber, PH, PE, Ph.D., Professor (University of Minnesota)

The American Institute of Hydrology would like to congratulate Professor Nieber on receiving the prestigious Dave Ford Award in 2023 by the Water Resources Conference planning committee. The award is for professional and other related disciplines working in water resources. It honors a person for significant long-term achievement or public service in water resources management who exhibits the collaborative leadership style of Dave Ford.

Dr. Nieber has a record of outstanding achievements in the management of water resources. This record includes significant contributions in teaching, research, and public service. As a professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Nieber has served as teacher and mentor for hundreds of students. His pedagogical approach blends theoretical rigor with the realities of complex watersheds. Dr. Nieber has provided invaluable leadership in the Water Resources Science graduate program serving as the Director of Graduate Studies. The breadth of his research is amazing, with projects ranging from the determination of water storage volume across Minnesota landscapes to the rigorous analysis of “fingering” caused by instabilities in unsaturated flows. Dr. Nieber has been a leader in establishing professional registration for hydrologists. He has served on the Executive Committee and as President of the American Institute of Hydrology. His collaborative leadership has resulted in strong working relationships with professionals working in academe, governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, and consulting firms. He has inspired us to reach higher and work smarter.

Conference Update

AIH Awards at the AWRA 2023 Annual Water Resources Conference

Dr. Zhong Zhang represented the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) this year at the Annual AWRA Conference in Raleigh, November 6-8, 2023. The conference included plenary and concurrent sessions featuring dynamic keynote speakers, panel discussions, technical sessions and short workshops. 

During the award ceremony, which took place on November 8th, Dr. Zhang presented three AIH awards for outstanding hydrologists in the areas of groundwater, surface water and Founders Award for Institute Development. The Charles V. Theis award for groundwater was presented to Dr. Ken Howard. The Ray K. Linsley award for surface water was presented to Dr. Jeff McDonnel. The Founders Award for Institute Development was presented to Dr. John Nieber, who was the past AIH President (2019 to 2020). During the award ceremony, Dr. Zhang provided an overview about AIH and presented notes on behalf of the awardees, who could not be present at the conference.


Dr. Zhang also gave a workshop about the Hydrologist-In-Training (HIT) examination to interested attendees. In addition, Dr. Zhang gave a presentation titled “Evaluating Carbon and Nitrogen Discharged from the South Fork of the Iowa River and the Relation of these Discharges to Agricultural Conservation Practices”.

Webinar News

In our last webinar, Dr. Dan Wright described exciting new techniques for climate-informed design rainfall and floods in large river basins. The feedback from that webinar was extremely positive, and we loved the members’ engagement. A few members requested that we go further into the application of such methods; and we listened. On our next webinar, to be held on January 11, 2024 at 9:00 AM PST, we are thrilled to have Greg Karlovits, Acting Chief of the Hydrology and Statistics Division at the USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC), presenting some new features within the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS). HEC-HMS was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is largely used by the hydrology community to simulate and model the rainfall-runoff processes in a watershed. One of the new features that will be discussed during the webinar is the capability of implementing storm shifting within HEC-HMS.

We’re committed to providing valuable insights and resources to help you succeed and stay informed. We plan our webinars with our members in mind. In the coming year, we are considering a large list of hot topics in hydrology, including climate change, water quality, sustainability, dam safety, forecast-informed reservoir operations, and much more. If you have any recommendations, or requests, for a future webinar, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Luciana Kindl da Cunha at lcunha@westconsultants.com.

AIH Membership and Certification Database Manager

Membership Services

  • Customer service support and help to AIH members and key stakeholders by answering phones, emails and managing all AIH inquiries.
  • In collaboration with the Executive Director, develop and execute an overall marketing plan for membership recruitment and retention; evaluate for effectiveness.
  • Manage and execute monthly webinars (Zoom), including PowerPoint slides and post-webinar communications.
  • Coordinate AIH Board member attendance at occasional partner conferences
  • In collaboration with the Executive Director, support AIH training and non-conference meetings such as pre-meeting logistics, annual awards preparation, booth materials coordination, and other duties as assigned.
  • Provide governance support for the Board of Directors and Committee meetings, including assembling the final agenda, Zoom support, meeting minutes, calendar and Doodle scheduling, board roster, and annual calendar.
  • Staff liaison to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Webinar Committee, Communications Committee, and Board of Registration.
  • Assist AIH Technical Committees with meeting logistics (Zoom) and SharePoint folders
  • Manage the member life cycle of AIH Certification, Recertification, and recruitment toward certification.
  • Administer multiple choice online exams several times a year for certification, using questions prepared by the Board of Registration.
  • Email membership renewal notices and mail notices annually.
  • Coordinate with Website and Marketing Consultant to publish announcements for awards, calls for nominations, social media, and various AIH announcements.

Certification Database Management

  • Manage all aspects of the Association Management Software, including Certemy and AIH website.
  • Update records and maintain data quality; maintain membership reports (IQAs) and statistics for reporting.
  • Process all payments, including membership renewals, membership recertifications, and Board member expenses.
  • Prepare monthly and quarterly reports for the Board of Directors, CEO, Marketing Consultant, and CFO Services/auditors.

Requirements – The first three points are required

  • Bachelor’s degree – Required
  • Membership Management and Certification Experience – Required
  • Association Management Software Experience – Preferred
  • Certemy Database Preferred
  • Team player

Benefits

  • Virtual position
  • 100% employer-paid health insurance upon start
  • 401K match after two year of service
  • 10 vacation days, accrual of sick days, 11 paid holidays, and paid time off between Christmas and New Years Eve
  • 2 paid time off days for volunteer work of your choice
  • Flexible holiday exchange program

Please send a short cover letter and resume to dresden@awra.org with the subject line: AIH Membership and Website Manager/Director

AIH Examinations – Get Involved

AIH is seeking assistance with examination processes. You can review the scopes for these projects below.

 

Scope of Work to Review AIH Examination Questions

More Information

Need:


The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) is proposing to hire two or three qualified hydrologists to review a compiled database of exam questions for the AIH certification examinations for professional hydrologists in the disciplines of Water Quality, Surface Water and Groundwater exams and hydrologic technician exam.

Overview:


Currently the board of the examination committee (BOE) maintain four sets of examination database by disciplines with a total of approximately 1,100 questions:

  • Professional Hydrologist – Groundwater (300 questions)
  • Professional Hydrologist – Surface Water (300 questions)
  • Professional Hydrologist – Water Quality (300 questions)
  • Hydrologic Technician (200 questions)

Most of these questions were newly developed by eight hydrologists in 2022. Each question was developed with four multiple-choice answers, where only one is supposed to be correct. However, in order to finalize the exam questions used for the AIH certification examinations, these exam questions need to be reviewed . Here is proposed scope of work for the review:


1- Review the appropriateness of each exam question. Each exam question has four multiple choice answers, one of which is supposed to be the correct one. The reviewer needs to confirm the appropriateness of each questions and answer. If the exam is not appropriate or out of date, these questions need to be removed from the database.
2- Rate the difficulty of each question. Exam questions were rated with three levels of difficulty. These difficulty levels need to be checked and make sure they are correctly rated. If they are not appropriately rated, the reviewer need to correct the level of difficulty.
3- Divide the examination questions under sub-categories. Each question was categorized as one or multiple categories. The review need to check if they are appropriately categorized, otherwise need to be corrected.

 

Deliverables:

Updated database for Water Quality, Surface Water and Groundwater exams and Hydrologic Technician examination questions. Each database needs to include
1- A column note and indicate if the question is valid.
2- A column with update level of difficulty
3- A column with update sub-category
4- A column with any changes made to each question.

Fee:

Each reviewer will be paid $1000 for one set of examination database (SW, GW, WQ, HT) described above. Total budget for the examination question review is $4000.00.

Deadline:

The deadline to respond to this task is August 15, 2023, and finish this task is October 15, 2023.

Scope of Work to Develop a User-Friendly AIH Examination Tool

More Information

Need:

The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) is proposing to hire an expert to develop a user-friendly examination tool to automatically create required exam questions in the disciplines of Water Quality, Surface Water and Groundwater exams and hydrologic technician exam from current exam question database.

Overview:

Currently the board of the examination committee (BOE) maintain four sets of examination database by disciplines with a total of approximately 1,100 questions:

    • Professional Hydrologist – Groundwater (300 questions)

    • Professional Hydrologist – Surface Water (300 questions)

    • Professional Hydrologist – Water Quality (300 questions)

    • Hydrologic Technician (200 questions)

All of exam questions are multiple choices and currently stored in different sheets in MS Excel files. Each exam database includes three level of difficulties and several categories listed below.

No Category
Surface Water (SW)
1 Watershed and Hydrologic Cycle
2 Precipitation
3 Losses and runoff
4 Hydraulics/Flow/Routing/Storage
5 Prediction/Modeling/Design
6 Peripheral Topics: Climate change and economics, stream restoration, etc.
   
Groundwater (GW)
1 Water budget
2 Site exploration/aquifer properties
3 Groundwater Flow and model simulation
4 Groundwater quality and solute transport
5 Well Hydraulics, well development, testing, maintenance
6 Groundwater recharge, vadose zone, infiltration, MAR, SW/GW interaction
7 Groundwater management, laws, regulations, well head protection, subsidence
8 Peripheral Topics: climate change, economics, water supply, social
   
Water Quality (WQ)
1 Wastewater
2 Environmental
3 Monitoring and Measuring
4 Limnology
5 Aquatic chemistry
6 Microbiology
7 Soils and sediment
8 Source pollution and control/treatment
9 Pollutant fate and transport
10 Peripheral Topics
   
Hydrologic Technician (HT)
1 Data Collection and measurement
2 Information/dissemination/outreach
3 Analysis/records
4 Methods and Instrumentation
5 Database management
6 Gage and other monitoring system
7 Quality assurance/control (QA/QC)
8 Knowledge (hydrologic system)
9 Peripheral Topics

AIH manages following five (5) examinations:

    • Professional Examination in Surface Water

    • Professional Examination in Groundwater

    • Professional Examination in Water Quality

    • Hydrologic In Training (Fundamental)

    • Hydrologic Technician

The AIH examination tool is expected to have following features:

 

    1. A dropdown menu to select what AIH examination questions (SW, GW, WQ, HIT, HT) are created.

    1. Specify percentage questions from each category and level of difficulty under SW, GW, WQ, HT examination database.

    1. Automatically create an AIH exam with 100 questions with correct answers, and

    1. Export an exam into a csv format file.

Deliverables:

A completed and fully tested software package and a user manual (MS word file) documenting how to use the tool.

Fee:

Total budget for the examination tool development and update is $4000.0. $3,000 is used for the tool development and $1,000 will be used for bug fixes and future updates.

Deadline:

The deadline to respond to this task is August 15, 2023, and finish this task is October 15, 2023.