Alumni
Zoi Dokou, PhD
California State University, Sacramento
Our Research Team
Our research team consists of graduate and undergraduate students at California State University, Sacramento as well as visiting scholars and collaborators from the United States and internationally.
Dr. Dokou (she/her/hers) is assistant professor at Sacramento State University. Dr. Dokou received her B.Eng. degree in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Crete, Greece and her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont, USA. Her research focus is groundwater engineering with emphasis on groundwater management, managed aquifer recharge (MAR), groundwater-surface water interactions and contaminant transport in the subsurface.
Graduate Students
Owen Bratton
Graduate Student
Owen (he/him/his) is a Master’s student in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State University, Sacramento. He previously graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science from the University of California, Davis in December of 2018. His professional interests include numerical simulations for both hydraulic and hydrologic systems, hydroinformatics and environmental data science, environmental transport phenomena as it relates to both water and air quality, and the behavior of groundwater contaminants in the vadose zone. His current thesis research involves the use of HYDRUS modeling software to simulate the fate and transport of PFAS in firefighting training exercise sites.
Vanessa Garcia
Graduate Student
Vanessa is a Master's student in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State University, Sacramento. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Vanessa is an Engineer-in-Training, working as a Water Resources Engineer at Dewberry, Texas. Her research focuses on groundwater resources and management. More specifically, her thesis topic is related to Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) using captured storm water. Groundwater sources are not as reliable as before due to over-pumping and lack of water availability because of changing climate. With the use of infiltration basins and/or other MAR methods, groundwater has the potential to be replenished using urban runoff while also considering improvement to the environment.
Joaquin Fraga Hernandez
Graduate Student
Joaquin graduated from the University of California, Merced with a degree in Earth System Sciences. He has previous research experience working for UC Merced looking at the water budget in high elevation basins in the Sierra. He is interested in analyzing and understanding surface and groundwater interactions, addressing California’s drought conditions through localized aquifer management strategies, and working to provide safe and reliable sources of water to all communities. He currently is working for The Department of Water Resources, in Asset Management as a student assistant. As part of his research work at Sacramento State University he is working with the City of Sacramento on a pilot program to install and quantify the impacts of permeable pavers in the Dixianne Neighborhood in Northern Sacramento.
Travis Dennis
Graduate Student
Travis earned both a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as well as a B.S. in Plant Science from the University of Arizona in 2018. At Sac State, he is currently working on completing his master's studies in Civil Engineering, with an emphasis in Water Resources. He also works part-time as a student assistant for Sac State's Facilities Management IT department as well as with California's Department of Water Resources Operations and Management Division. His interests related to Civil Engineering include water treatment, groundwater recharge, and environmental quality. His current thesis research involves the use of numerical modeling simulate PFAS transport in the subsurface.
Jace Nunes
Graduate Student
Jace Nunes works for the Citrus Heights Water District as a Management Analyst, a position that is focused on water conservation. He holds a certificate from the State Water Resources Control Board in Drinking Water Treatment/Distribution and a Water Use Efficiency Practitioner certificate from the American Water Works Association. He also has a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and is currently working towards a Master of Science in Water Resource Engineering. Jace is interested in furthering his studies in flood management, resource allocation, groundwater regulation, and conservation.
Jerrald Yang
Graduate Student
Jerrald graduated from University of California, Davis with a degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on water resources engineering. After working in the private industry for a couple years under transportation hydraulics, Jerrald is now a current master's student at California State University, Sacramento pursuing a master's degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in transportation engineering. He is also now working at the East Bay Municipal Utility District as an Engineering Designer. His research interests include tying stormwater design with transportation design and creating models to determine their capabilities. His current masters project investigates traffic and drainage performance of permeable pavement and how it compares to urban bioswales.
Alumni
Layla Al Baghdadi
Graduate Student
Layla holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Technology-Baghdad and a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from Sacramento State University. She graduated with a MS in Civil Engineering from Sacramento State in 2021. Her thesis work focused on the storm-induced salinization of the Grand Bahama island due to hurricane Dorian. She is now a PhD student at University of Nevada, Reno.
Gary Roman
Graduate Student
Roman holds a BS in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University. He graduated with a MS in Civil Engineering from Sacramento State in 2022. His thesis work focused on the analysis of the Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Potential in California with Focus on the San Vicente System in San Diego.
Visiting Scholars
Anne Imig
Visiting Scholar (April - May 2022)
Anne holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Technical University of Munich TUM, Germany and a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, from a joint Master Program from the Technical University of Munich and the Technical University of Denmark. After her studies she pursued a career in drinking water supply and management with experiences in the public and private sector. In 2019 she started her PhD studies at the Technical University of Munich. Her research topics include inverse modelling of flow and transport processes in the unsaturated zone, managed aquifer recharge, integrated water resources management, groundwater contamination, among others.
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In Spring 2022, Anne joined our group as a visiting scholar for a month, to work collaboratively on research related to MAR feasibility in Grand Bahama as well as PFAS transport modeling in the subsurface.