Systems Modeling

Technical Expertise

• Computer Assisted (CA)
  • System dynamics modeling
  • Physical and social process module toolbox
  • Linking to other resource planning and management tools
  • Optimization
  • Decision analytics
  • Experimentation and gaming
  • Spatial analysis and visualization
  • Data Base Management
• Dispute Resolution
  • Cooperative modeling
  • Surveys
  • Web based processes
• Education and Outreach

Projects

Demos

• Middle Rio Grande Cooperative Water Model
• CADRe – Barton Springs Project

Project Web Sites

• Gila & San Francisco River Basins Water Supply Model

Partners

United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
The USACE is made up of approximately 34,600 Civilian and 650 military members. Our military and civilian engineers, scientists and other specialists work hand in hand as leaders in engineering and environmental matters. Our diverse workforce of biologists, engineers, geologists, hydrologists, natural resource managers and other professionals meets the demands of changing times and requirements as a vital part of America’s Army.

United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBoR)
The USBoR the largest wholesaler of water in the country, bringing water to more than 31 million people, and provide one out of five Western farmers (140,000) with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland that produce 60% of the nation’s vegetables and 25% of its fruits and nuts. Reclamation is also the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the western United States. Our 58 powerplants annually provide more than 40 billion kilowatt hours generating nearly a billion dollars in power revenues and produce enough electricity to serve 6 million homes.

United States Geological Survey (USGS)
The USGS is the Nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems. The diversity of our scientific expertise enables us to carry out large-scale, multi-disciplinary investigations and provide impartial scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers.

New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC)
The Interstate Stream Commission has broad powers to investigate, protect, conserve, and develop New Mexico’s waters including both interstate and intrastate stream systems. The eight unsalaried members of the Commission are appointed by the Governor. The ninth member is the State Engineer who under state law is the secretary of the Commission. The Interstate Stream Commission Director serves as the deputy state engineer.

Staff Biographies

Contact us at systemsmodeling@sandia.gov.

Cesar Castillo

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Cesar Castillo

Staff Augmentation Sandia National Laboratories

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Laura Cutler

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Laura Cutler

Student Intern Sandia National Laboratories

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Thomas E. Drennen

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Thomas E. Drennen

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Geoffrey Taylor Klise

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Geoffrey Taylor Klise

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Peter H. Kobos

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Peter H. Kobos

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Stephanie P. Kuzio

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Stephanie P. Kuzio

Manager Sandia National Laboratories

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Thomas Stephen Lowry

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Thomas Stephen Lowry

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Leonard A. Malczynski

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Leonard A. Malczynski

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Barbara Denise Moreland

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Barbara Denise Moreland

Staff Augmentation Sandia National Laboratories

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Howard D. Passell

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Howard D. Passell

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Ronald C. Pate

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Ronald C. Pate

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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William J. Peplinski

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William J. Peplinski

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Marissa D. Reno

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Marissa D. Reno

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Elizabeth H. Richards

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Elizabeth H. Richards

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Jesse Roach

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Jesse Roach

Hydrologist Sandia National Laboratories

Jesse D. Roach is a Hydrologist with a background in high level analysis of integrated hydrologic systems. His work focuses on quantitative analysis of the relationship between water resources and the human and natural demands they support. Such analysis requires a full consideration of the interplay of human and natural systems that together determine spatial and temporal water use trends. He has worked as a lead modeler on integrated systems level models that incorporate climate, surface water, groundwater, reservoir, human demand, and environmental demand dynamics in order to account for water quantity and quality in space and time for a variety of hydrologic systems. Such models are often built in a collaborative manner in order to involve and educate parties with an interest in the resource management outcome.

Jesse holds Bachelor of Science degrees from Stanford University in Biology (1995) and Civil Engineering (1995), and a Masters of Science degree, also from Stanford, in Civil and Environmental Engineering (1997). He received his PhD in Hydrology from the University of Arizona in 2007 with a dissertation titled “Integrated Surface Water Groundwater Modeling in the Upper Rio Grande in Support of Scenario Analysis”. Recent projects include collaborative development of system dynamics models of water systems in the Upper Hondo and Upper Rio Grande basins in New Mexico, and the Tigris-Euphrates basin in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Energy related modeling efforts include modeling national scale carbon sequestration from fossil based power plants, algal biofuels site assessment, and electrical storage value estimation. He is skilled in use of Matlab, Excel, ARC-GIS, and Powersim softwares for application to resource management analysis.

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Melanie A. Stansbury

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Melanie A. Stansbury

PO Contractor Sandia National Laboratories

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Vincent Tidwell

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Vincent Tidwell

Principle Member of the Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

Vincent Tidwell is a Principle Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He has 18 years experience conducting and managing research on basic and applied projects in water resource management, nuclear and hazardous waste storage/remediation, and petroleum recovery. Most recently efforts have focused on establishing a multi-agency, multi-university center devoted to the creation and application of computer-aided decision support tools and stakeholder mediated decision processes. Focus of this effort is on water resource management and planning. These models adopt a system dynamics framework for integrating the broad physical and social processes important to water planning. Additionally, these system level models are directly linked to a variety of other tools, providing an integrated basis for analysis, visualization and decision support.

In 1985, Vince earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geology from the University of Texas at Arlington. From there Vince attended the University of Arizona in Tucson where in 1988 he received a Master’s of Science in Hydrology and Water Resources. Vince worked two years for Roy F. Weston, Inc. as a consulting hydrologist. In 1990 Vince joined Sandia National Laboratories and quickly enrolled in the University Part Time Program. In 1999 Vince earned his Ph.D. in Hydrology from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

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Daniel Villa

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Daniel Villa

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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La Tonya N. Walker

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La Tonya N. Walker

Technical Staff Sandia National Laboratories

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Ryan Woodall

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Ryan Woodall

Student Intern Sandia National Laboratories

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Publications

Journal Publications:

• Roach, J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Spatial System Dynamics Approach to Ground Water Modeling, Ground Water, 47(5), 686-698, 2009
• Tidwell, V.C. and Cors van den Brink, Cooperative modeling: Linking science, communication and ground water planning, Groundwater, 46(2), 174-182, 2008
• Cockerill, K.C., V.C. Tidwell, H. Passell, and L. Malczynski, Collaborative Modeling Lessons for Environmental Management, Environmental Practice, 9(1), 28-41, 2007.
• Cockerill, K.C., H. Passell, and V.C. Tidwell, V.C., Cooperative modeling: Building bridges between science and the public, Journal of American Water Resources Association, 457-471, April 2006.
• Tidwell, V.C., H.D. Passell, S.H. Conrad, and R.P. Thomas, System dynamics modeling for community-based water planning: An application to the Middle Rio Grande, Journal of Aquatic Sciences, 66,357-372, 2004.
• Cockerill, K.C., V.C. Tidwell, and H.D. Passell. Assessing Public Perceptions of Computer-Based Models. Environmental Management, 34(5): 609-619, 2004.

Papers in Review:

• Cockerill, K.C., L. Daniel, V.C. Tidwell, A. Sun, Connecting Water Planning, Cooperative Modeling and Geographically Dispersed Participants in Southwestern New Mexico, submitted to Environmental Management, 2008.
• Cockerill, K.C., L. Daniel, L.A. Malczynski, and V.C. Tidwell, Collaborative Modeling for More Effective Policy, submitted to Policy Sciences, 2008.
• Weber, M.A., V.C. Tidwell and J.A. Thatcher, Interactive Physical and Economic Model for Exploring Riparian Restoration Options: Application to the Middle Rio Grande, submitted to Environmental Economics, 2008.

Other Publications:

• Roach, J.D., Stochastic Hydrologic Analysis of the Upper Rio Grande Surface Water System in New Mexico.  Report to URGWOM Technical Team.  79pp. SAND2009-6529P July 1, 2009 http://www.spa.usace.army.mil/urgwom/documentation/StochasticHydrologyReport.2009.07.01.pdf
• Roach, J.D., H.D. Passell, M.D. Reno, G. Klise, V.C. Tidwell, Strategy for Water and Land Resources in Iraq (SWLRI) Water systems Planning Model (WSPM) Final Report.  SAND2009-3063P May 2009
• Roach, J.D., Selection of Five Synthetic Flow Sequences for Detailed Analysis with the Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Planning Model.  Report to URGWOM Technical Team.  21pp. SAND2009-6541P  January 19, 2009 http://www.spa.usace.army.mil/urgwom/documentation/10yr%20Sequence%20Selection%20for%20PHVA%2001.19.2009%20SAND2009-6541P.pdf
• Cain, W.O., S.A. Pierce, M. Ciarleglio, J.W. Barnes, R.M. Jenevein, T.S. Lowry, J.M. Sharp, V.C. Tidwell, CADRe: A Negotiation Support System for Water Management, WATER DOWN UNDER 2008, Adelaide, South Australia 15-17 April 2008.
• Tidwell, V.C., T.S. Lowry, J.D. Roach, A. Sun, A Comparison of CADRe Processes: Perspectives from the Gila, Rio Grande and Willamette,  Computer Aided Dispute Resolution: Proceedings from the CADRe Workshop, IWR Report 07-R-6, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 13-14, 2007.
• Sun, A., V.C. Tidwell, G. Klise, L.A. Malczynski, W. Peplinski, and J.R. Brainard, System Dynamics Model of Southwestern New Mexico Hydrology to Assess Impact of the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, Proceedings of the 2008 System Dynamics Society International Conference, Athens, Greece, July 20 – 24, 2008.
• Lowry T.S., V.C. Tidwell, M.T. Rea, H.E. Cardwell, and T. Buchholz, A Collaborative Model Process to Examine Temperature TMDL’s and Related Remediation Strategies for the Willamette Basin, Oregon, Proceedings of Water Down Under 2008, Adelaide, Australia, April 2008
• Buchholz, T., T.S. Lowry, V.C. Tidwell, M.T. Rea, H.E. Cardwell, , Evaluating Reservoir Operations and Other Remediation Strategies to meet Temperature TMDL’s in the Willamette Basin, Oregon, Proceedings of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, May 2008
• Tidwell, V.C., L.A. Malczynski, H.D. Passell, W.J. Peplinski, M.D. Reno, J. Chermak, D. Brookshire, J. Thacher, K. Grimsrud, C. Broadbent, J. Hason, J.D. Roach, E. Vivoni,
• C. Aragon, H. Hallett, K. Cockerill, and D. Coursey, Integrated System Dynamics Toolbox for Water Resources Planning, SANDIA REPORT 2006-7676, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 312pp, 2006.
• Roach, J.D. and V.C. Tidwell, Multi-agency cooperative modeling on the Upper Rio Grande, in proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, Tampa, May 14-19, 2007.
• Tidwell, V.C., A. Sun, G. Klise, J. Brainard, Collaborative modeling to support the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, in proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, Tampa, May 14-19, 2007.
• Lowry, T.S., V.C. Tidwell, H. Cardwell, Model development methodologies to support resource management decisions on the Willamette River, in proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, Tampa, May 14-19, 2007.
• Tidwell, V.C. and H.D. Passell, Cooperative decision support modeling to assist water planning in the Middle Rio Grande, Southwest Hydrology, 5(4), 28-30, 2006.
• Aragon, C.A., L.A. Malczynski, E.R. Vivoni, and V.C. Tidwell, Modeling ungauged tributaries using Geographical Information System (GIS) and system dynamics, Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of ESRI, 2006.
• Tidwell, V.C., A.M. Michelsen, J. Aparicio, and H.D. Passell, The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo—A river of change, Water Resources IMPACT, Journal of the AWRA, 6(3), 14-17, May 2004.
• Passell, H.D., and V.C. Tidwell, and E. Webb. 2002. Cooperative modeling; an approach for community-based water resource management. Southwest Hydrology 1(4):26.
• McNamara, L., J. Chermak, K. Cockerill, J. Jarratt, S. Kelly, P. Kobos, L. Malczynaki, G. Newman, K. Pallachula, H. Passell, V. Tidwell, J. Turnley, P. Van Bloeman Waanders, Modeling the Transfer of Land and Water from Agricultural to Urban Uses in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico, SAND Report-20045218, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2004.
• Passell, H.D., V.C. Tidwell, J.R. Brainard, M. Ennis, J. Aparicio, A. Guitron, Rene Lovato, J. Valdes, A. Serrat-Capdevila, A.M. Michelsen, Z. Sheng, W. Morrison, T. Gerik, G. Piccinni, J. Villalobos, G. Newman, K. Pallachula, J. Emery, Data Collection for Cooperative Water Resources Modeling in the Lower Rio Grande Basin, Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, SAND Report 2004-5241, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2004.
• Passell, H.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Cooperative Water Resource Modeling in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. SAND 2003-0636, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003.
• Passell, H.D., V.C. Tidwell, S.H. Conrad, R.P. Thomas, J.D. Roach. Cooperative Water Resources Modeling in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 2003.  Sandia National Laboratories SAND Report SAND2003-3653. http://www.sandia.gov/water/docs/ModelingSANDrprtFINAL.pdf
• Tidwell, V.C., Sun, A.C., Klise, G.T., Peplinski, W.K., Brainard, J.R.,  and Aragon, C.A. (2007), Collaborative Modeling in New Mexico’s Upper Gila and San Francisco River Basin, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(52), Fall Meet, Suppl., Abstract H43A-0954.
• Klise, G., Tidwell, V., and Aragon, C., 2007. Determining the Contribution of Ungauged Tributaries to the Mainstem Gila and San Francisco Rivers using GIS and System Dynamics Software. AWRA 2007 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM. Poster Presentation.
• *Klise, G. and C. Aragon, 2007. Using GIS and System Dynamics Software to Model how Changes in Land Use and Cover will affect Discharge in Ungauged Tributaries in the Gila and San Francisco Basins. AAG 2007 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2007 Annual Meeting Program, p. 428.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Integrated Modeling of New Mexico’s Rio Grande System for Real Time Scenario Analysis, 2007.  Oral presentation.  AWRA Annual Meeting.  Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 2007.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Spatially Aggregated Groundwater Modeling in the Rio Grande for Real Time Scenario Evaluation.  Oral presentation.  AGU Fall Meeting.  San Francisco, California, December 2006.
• Roach J.D., D. Brookshire, V. Tidwell, D. Coursey, C. Broadbent .  Issues of Coupling Physical/Hydrological Economic Models in Water Resources.  UCOWR, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2006.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Integrated GW-SW Modeling in the Upper Rio Grande in Support of Policy Evaluation.  NGWA 2006 Groundwater Summit, San Antonio, Texas, April 2006.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, System Dynamics Modeling for Understanding and Designing Water Markets.  Invited presentation.  SAHRA 2005 Annual Meeting.  Tucson, Arizona.  October 2005.
• Roach J.D., V.C. Tidwell, and K. Lansey.  Integration of Complex Models Into a System Dynamics Based Basin Scale Planning Model for the Upper Rio Grande.  Oral presentation.  AGU Fall Meeting.  San Francisco, California, December 2004.
• Roach J.D., V.C. Tidwell, and K. Lansey.  Integration of Multidisciplinary and Multi-scale Models in the Rio Grande Using System Dynamics Modeling.  Invited presentation.  SAHRA 2004 Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  October 2004.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Monthly Timestep Reservoir Operations in the Upper Rio Grande.  Poster presentation.  SAHRA 2006 Annual Meeting.  Scottsdale, Arizona.  October 2006.
• Roach J.D., and V.C. Tidwell, Integrating Surface and Groundwater Models in the Upper Rio Grande.  Poster presentation.  SAHRA 2005 Annual Meeting.  Tucson, Arizona.  October 2005.
• Roach J.D., V.C. Tidwell, K. Lansey, and G. Woodard.  Increasing Demands, Finite Supply:  System dynamic modeling of water allocation choices and tradeoffs in the Upper Rio Grande 2003-2043.  Poster presentation.  ASCE EWRI 2004 World Water and Environmental Resources Congress.  Salt Lake City, Utah.  June 2004.
• Roach J.D., V.C. Tidwell, K. Lansey, and G. Woodard.  Increasing Demands, Finite Supply.  Water allocation choices and tradeoffs in the Upper Rio Grande 2003-2040, Poster presentation.  SAHRA 2003 Annual Meeting.  Tucson, Arizona.  October 2003.