Our People
Meet Elise Ibendahl
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Elise Ibendahl is a champion of innovation for flood modeling technologies, and throughout her 25-year career she has performed the roles of project manager and/or subject matter expert for over 90 projects related to stormwater and flood risk management in over 15 countries.
As 网曝吃瓜黑料一区二区三区 Global Principal for Flood Modeling and Planning, Elise鈥檚 expertise includes hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, flood risk and stormwater management studies, CSO long term control plan implementation, hazard mitigation planning and design, stormwater master planning, green infrastructure solutions, disaster recovery, and regulatory floodplain mapping and permitting related projects. At 网曝吃瓜黑料一区二区三区, she has also served as North Region Solutions Leader for Water Resources and as a Global Technology Leader.
Elise specializes in urban flood risk management modeling and planning, including integration of 1D and 2D modeling environments in a variety of software platforms. She also contributes to the development of advanced modeling software and platforms such as Flood Modeller and Flood Platform. She is proficient in the analysis of hydrology, sewer systems, open channels, floodplains and watersheds for a wide range of scales and applications.
Elise grew up in rural southern Illinois and always thought she would stay close to home. Growing up playing in the creek, a career in water appealed to her, so she attended Christian Brothers University鈥檚 civil engineering program in Memphis. She also has a minor in piano performance and was the lead accompanist for CBU鈥檚 choirs through all four years of college. Elise splits her time between work and her other passion: music!
Elise is a trustee for the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Foundation, co-chair of the Foundation鈥檚 scholarship committee, and is an active member of ASFPM. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), currently active as a task leader for ASCE鈥檚 national MOSAIC (Members of Society Advancing an Inclusive Culture) council and with past leadership roles including ASCE Region VII Governor and chair of the St. Louis Section of Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI). Elise is currently an External Advisory Committee member for Washington University鈥檚 Environmental Engineering department, and previously served in a similar role for St. Louis University.
鈥淭he magnitude and frequency of extreme flood events is globally increasing and disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable populations. At the same time, a rapid increase in technology and available data allows us to understand flood impacts at an unprecedented scale. This allows us to efficiently focus the development of cost-effective mitigation solutions where they are most needed.鈥
Elise Ibendahl
Get to know Elise
What is your favorite part of your role?
It鈥檚 a tough call between our amazing people and the amazing projects!
What advice would you give to young professionals?
Young professionals who work with me are probably going to laugh at this one, because they likely know my 鈥榳orking with Elise speech鈥 well. Never be afraid to ask questions! But if it鈥檚 a technical question and you are stuck, think about it a little and have an idea of what the answer might be before coming to me 鈥 without going too far down the rabbit hole.
What people may not know is that one of the reasons I give that speech is because I enjoy seeing the thought process from a different perspective on how people tackle tough problems 鈥 and because I pretty much always learn something from others鈥 ideas.
What do you enjoy most about being part of #Our网曝吃瓜黑料一区二区三区?
When I interact with young women in STEAM fields about their experiences in the field, I feel so proud to be a part of our inclusive culture at 网曝吃瓜黑料一区二区三区 and wish that everyone could have the same experience.
If you aren鈥檛 working, what are we most likely to find you doing?
I鈥檓 in music rehearsals at least a few times a week. One of the groups I sing with is the , an all-professional acapella choir. I鈥檝e recorded over 10 CDs with the group, some of which are available on streaming services.
The rest of the time I鈥檓 with family or hiking or making music with my extended family and friends. My oldest daughter is a senior at University of Oregon, my son is starting college at Loyola University-Chicago in the fall, and my youngest just obtained her driver鈥檚 license. I鈥檓 very glad I have no more children to teach how to drive! I married my high school sweetheart almost 25 years ago who is an urban planner and who runs the for St. Louis (it鈥檚 a thing!)