Paul Micheletty

Paul Micheletty is an expert Hydrologist with experience in decision support system development, long-term water supply forecasting using ensemble methods, and system optimization utilizing multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. In his role at RTI as a senior technical engineer and project manager, he has worked closely with the National Weather Service Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (NWS CBRFC) on a multitude of projects with the goal of improving seasonal forecasts in the Colorado River Basin. These projects include a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funded project to couple novel snow data assimilation techniques with distributed hydrologic modeling, implementing dynamic temperature-based evapotranspiration modeling, and enhanced real-time consumptive use modeling.

Mr. Micheletty also has experience as a technical lead developing a suite of tools and models focused on improving risk-informed decision making using Probabilistic Flood Hazard Analyses (PFHA). These tools and data management systems focus on using state-of-the-science modeling techniques coupled with scalable cloud computing methods and have been implemented across the entire system of reservoirs for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Idaho National Laboratory (INL) facilities, as well as other hydropower organizations.

Prior to joining RTI, Mr. Micheletty’s work had an emphasis on the use of satellite remotely sensed data in water resource applications. As a research fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), his work focused on improving the default parameterization of the National Hydrologic Model (NHM) using remotely sensed vegetation data. Mr. Micheletty’s research in graduate school included investigating the watershed response of changes in snow cover extent after wildfires.