Dr. Eric Larson

While serving as the Leo R. Beard Visiting Scholar Program at the Hydrologic Engineering Center from 2009 – 2010, Dr. Eric Larsen convened a working group to make recommendations about modeling approaches in support of development of the HEC-EFMSim tool. He wrote a journal article comparing ecosystem restoration models and collaborated with HEC engineers to implement new sediment transport algorithms into HEC-RAS.

Dr. Larsen is a consultant and Research Scientist in the Environmental Design Department and Landscape Architecture Program at the University of California, Davis. His interdisciplinary research program addresses pressing issues in river management and restoration by developing new techniques to analyze river channel bank erosion and river meander migration. His research on the relationships among bank erosion, channel migration, and riparian vegetation establishment has led to new techniques for modeling changing (or regulated) river flows and their effects on habitat formation.

Dr. Larsen's consulting career regarding fluvial hydraulic engineering and quantitative fluvial geomorphology spans 25 years. He specializes in numerical modeling of river and marsh processes, and his recent projects include the interaction of the channel and flow processes with riparian habitat development. He has worked with numerous consulting firms, state and federal agencies, and non-profit groups, and he currently serves as a technical advisor to the City of Winters City Council, Winters Putah Creek Committee, Solano County Water Agency, Yolo County Board of Supervisors, and Cache Creek Technical Advisory Committee.

Dr. Larsen earned a BA in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1969, an MS in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1986, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1995.

More about the Leo R. Beard Visiting Scholar Program