Appointment(s):

Project Engineer, Iowa Flood Center, IIHR Hydroscience & Engineering

College(s): Engineering

The water provided by rivers and streams is essential to the health of the State of Iowa, but when rainfall or snowmelt push the water beyond its banks, the impact on communities can be devastating. As a project engineer with the Iowa Flood Center, Dan Ceynar is working to improve the state’s ability to monitor waterways for flooding across Iowa. He, with student support, has installed more than 220 sensors on bridges across Iowa to monitor water elevation by emitting an ultrasonic pulse that measures the distance between the bridge and the water. When flooding is imminent, the sensors provide a way for emergency managers, local officials, and the general public to monitor stream levels, prepare for rising water, and make informed decisions using a publicly available on-line tool called IFIS at iowafloodcenter.org.

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