Fidan Ecosystems Informatics Lab for Decision-Making

Water systems are shaped by both environmental processes and human decisions. My research focuses on understanding these connections and developing data-driven tools that help communities make better decisions about water.

I lead a research program in hydroinformatics, where I combine environmental sensing, geospatial data, modeling, and artificial intelligence to study how water quality, water availability, and flood risk change across landscapes. A central question in my work is: How can we turn complex environmental data into information that people can actually use?

The research in the FEILD group spans three interconnected areas: water quality, flood resilience, and water resources management. We study how contaminants move through watersheds, how floods affect agricultural landscapes and communities, and how water use can be understood and managed when demand increasingly competes with ecological and human needs. Across these areas, I am particularly interested in understanding the drivers of contaminant risk beyond rainfall and watershed processes and considering land use, agricultural practices, and regulatory decisions.

Much of my work is grounded in the Southeastern United States, where rapidly changing water challenges are creating an urgent need for better information. I work with producers, communities, Extension, and state and federal agencies to develop approaches that connect environmental observations and analytical models with decisions being made on the ground. My goal is not simply to generate more data, but to develop spatially explicit, decision-ready information that can help people understand where risks and resources are, how they are changing, and where action can make the greatest difference.

Although my research is rooted in the Southeast, the questions are much broader. Flooding, water scarcity, emerging contaminants, and competing demands for water are challenges facing communities around the world. By developing transferable methods for integrating environmental data, modeling, and human decision-making, my research aims to contribute to more resilient and sustainable water systems at local, national, and international scales.