The newly established Center for Hydrologic Development (CHD) builds on over a century of hydrologic research and education at IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering (IIHR), established in 1920 at the University of Iowa. The new center will advance scientific and applied engineering research in hydrology, river hydraulics, water resources, and communications and outreach, at the regional and national scale.

The CHD will also complement the work of the Iowa Flood Center (IFC), founded in 2009 under IIHR and representing the first and only center in the nation focused solely on flood-related research and education. The CHD will be instrumental in helping to expand some of the IFC’s innovative tools to the regional and national scale.

Initial funding for the CHD is from the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) housed at the University of Alabama and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The University of Iowa CHD expects about $21M from CIROH in the first five years.