Luke operates at the nexus of hydrologic science, hydraulics, and software engineering to advance the field of river restoration. With an eye toward practical research and development, over a decade of programming and GIS experience, and more than 8 years of hydrologic and hydraulic modeling expertise, he has led the development and application of models and tools for an expansive range of projects throughout fluvial, lacustrine, and estuarine environments. Such applications include habitat suitability analyses, climate hazard assessments, post-fire hydrology, flood risk modeling, reservoir operations, floodplain rehabilitation, and design. He is the architect and principal developer of cbec’s Ecological Floodplain Inundation Potential (EcoFIP) toolkit, which is used to identify, prioritize, and assess opportunities and conceptual designs for multi-objective floodplain restoration projects, and has been applied to over 1,000 river miles throughout California and the Midwest. As cbec’s Software Development Manager, he has additionally established an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI / ML) initiative comprised of cbec’s leading programmers, and hosts extensive trainings related to coding and custom hydrologic and hydraulic modeling tools. Luke also serves roles as a project manager and technical reviewer across a suite of highly visible projects, and administers cbec’s SharePoint / Teams platform for internal knowledge management.

Luke’s technical background spans GIS, H&H modeling, computer programming, and writing. He frequently uses ESRI products (ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro) and QGIS for cartography and spatial data visualization while conducting much of his geospatial processing using scripts. He has extensive experience building and applying 1D, 2D, and 3D hydraulic models using HEC-RAS, TUFLOW, and Delft-3D, as well as HEC-HMS, HEC-ResSim, and HEC-SSP for hydrologic and operations modeling and analysis. He further has familiarity with other H&H modeling tools including SWAT, KINEROS-2, SRH-2D, WinTR-55, PRMS, and MIKE 21. For computer programming, Luke is most experienced using R and C++, but has also adapted scripts and routines using Python, Fortran, Visual Basic, and MATLAB. Most recently, his interest in high-performance computing and rendering has pushed him further toward languages like C++ and Rust, as well as GPU solvers using CUDA and other NVIDIA products. Luke is also highly experienced using Excel for data analysis, along with the rest of the Microsoft Office Suite.

After having relocated from California to his hometown of Minneapolis, MN in the summer of 2022, Luke enjoys exploring the Land of 10,000 Lakes with his wife and their dog, Lou.