Yao Hu
Assistant Professor
Dr. Yao Hu is the lead Principal Investigator of the Water Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Delaware, holding a split appointment in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Hu is an expert in both physics-based and machine learning models of water systems, specializing in decision-making frameworks (e.g., agent-based modeling) and digital twins for water systems.
Research interests
Coupled Human and Water Systems (Socio-hydrology) · Digital Twin for Water · Water System Modeling and Optimization · Decision Making Modeling · Participatory Modeling · Agent-based Modeling · AI/MI-accelerated Modeling · Model Coupling and Integration
Appointments
- Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, College of Earth, Ocean & Environment
- Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
- Affiliated Faculty with Engineering and Policy Program, WaterScience and Policy Program, Data Science Institute and Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence, University of Delaware
Education
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016
- M.S., Environmental Engineering — Hamburg University of Technology, Germany, 2010
- B.Eng., Civil Engineering & Computer Science — Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, 2006
Office
Harker ISE Lab, Newark, DE 19716
Currently working on
- Hybrid Modeling for Fine-Scale Runoff Prediction
Combining physically-based hydrology with machine learning to improve edge-of-field and watershed-scale runoff and risk prediction.
- Agent-Based Modeling of Groundwater Irrigation
Coupling agent-based models of farmer decision-making with groundwater systems to study irrigation behavior and water security.
Publications
- Street-to-pipe diagnosis of compound rain–tailwater flooding
S. Xi, Y. Hu · Earth's Future, 14(4), e2026EF008402 · 2026
- Hydrological extremes heighten vulnerability to schistosomiasis
D. F. Levia, R. Bergquist, A. Meydani, Y. Hu, D. M. Hannah · Earth's Future, 12(6), e2024EF004659 · 2024
- A methodological framework for improving the performance of data-driven models
Y. Hu, C. Ghosh, S. Malakpour-Estalaki · Geoscientific Model Development, 16(7), 1925–1936 · 2023
- Editorial: Coastal Flooding: Modeling, Monitoring, and Protection Systems
V. Prigiobbe, C. Dawson, Y. Hu, H. O. Sharif, N. Tahvildari · Frontiers in Climate, 3, 830946 · 2022
- Generalization of Runoff Risk Prediction
C. M. Ford, Y. Hu, C. Ghosh, L. M. Fry, S. Malakpour-Estalaki, L. Mason · Geophysical Research Letters, e2022GL100667 · 2022