Our Conferences

The PRG has prioritized the outreach and socialization of their projects to promote research in water resources engineering. Check where we have been in the last years

CSU Water 2026

Our team actively contributed to poster sessions and engaged with cutting-edge discussions on water resources.

Graduate student Angela Maldonado, EIT and senior Carly Boyer, EIT presented their work on evaluating the response of pressure sensors to fixed-magnitude inserted leaks. This research is part of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation–funded project focused on developing leak localization methods in water distribution systems using advanced computational models.

Senior and #Dean’s #Medalist Byron Alessandro Toledo Salazar, EIT showcased his research on transfer learning for predictive models to estimate water demand in sparsely monitored areas using data from well-monitored regions. This work is a collaboration with Avi Ostfeld and Gal Perelman from the Technion

Aaron Fregoso and Makayla Cawley presented their analysis of water supply and residential demand at the supplier level, leveraging a comprehensive dataset from across California.

Jaden Luna and Jose Rodriguez Vargas, introduced their agent-based model designed to better understand groundwater consumption dynamics in California’s Central Valley.

UC Davis CEE Environmental and Water Resources Seminar

Dr. Pesantez was invited to present the PRG's work at a seminar organized by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at UC Davis in January 2026. Dr. Pesantez presented our research contributions on agent-based modeling and the effectiveness of gamification as a water conservation strategy.

International Congress of Engineering and Construction

Dr. Pesantez was invited to present his research at the Congress of Engineering and Construction, an event organized by the Technical University of Ambato, in June 2025. Dr. Pesantez presented his recent research contributions on water demand modeling and the implementation of a digital twin for water distribution systems.

World Environment and Water Resources Congress (2024 & 2025)

PRG members Alessandro Toledo and Angela Maldonado attended the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress in Anchorage, AK. They resented their research work on clustering water distribution networks and demand forecasting models.

CSU Water (2024)

💧 Phoebe Bloomfield (Master's Student) shared her thesis on a scenario-based approach for the efficient rehabilitation of water distribution systems. Her work offers a structured method for evaluating how replacing multiple pipes affects overall network hydraulics, bringing clarity and strategy to aging infrastructure upgrades.
📊 Byron Alessandro Toledo Salazar (3rd-year Civil Engineering) presented his research on clustering and forecasting water demand. He highlighted the importance of building models that leverage data from metered locations to infer hydraulic conditions in areas lacking meters. This impactful work has already been featured in two ASCE EWRI conference proceedings (https://lnkd.in/gk_Dr2jm).

CSU Water (2024 & 2025)

🤖 Angela Maldonado Alfaro and Carly Boyer showcased their explainable AI model for predicting subsystem-level water demand. Using both internal system data and external environmental predictors, their model offers transparency and accuracy, a crucial step forward in utility-scale demand forecasting. Angela Maldonado Alfaro's work has also been published in the ASCE EWRI congress proceedings (https://lnkd.in/gyvH4i8T).
🔍 Luay Al Aghbari Al-Aghbari is comparing two #deep #neural #network #models for predicting water demand across multiple cities in the #Tulare Lake #Hydrologic Region. His research leans on open-source tools and publicly available datasets, promoting reproducibility and accessibility.
🔥 Jaden Luna is developing an agent-based model to simulate and predict wildfire trajectories—an especially timely and crucial tool for the western U.S. His research aims to enhance preparedness and response strategies for future wildfire events.