Dr. Victor Miguel Ponce has been on the civil engineering faculty at San Diego State University (SDSU) for the past twenty-eight (28) years. His areas of expertise are: (1) hydrology, surface-water hydrology, computational hydraulics and hydrology, open-channel hydraulics, and environmental hydrology; (2) flood hydrology, drought hydrology, watershed hydrology, and groundwater hydrology; (3) hydroclimatology, hydrosedimentology, interdisciplinary studies, and sustainable development. He has 40 years of experience as a civil engineer and 32 years as a university professor in Colorado and California. He earned M.S. (1970) and Ph.D. (1976) degrees at Colorado State University, achieved the rank of full professor in 1983, and held the office of department chair during the period 1989-92.

He teaches Engineering Hydrology and Open-channel Hydraulics at the undergraduate level, and Computational Hydraulics and Hydrology, Environmental Hydrology and Surface-water Hydrology at the graduate level. His extensive experience led to the publication of Engineering Hydrology: Principles and Practices (Prentice Hall, 1989). This textbook is being used at many universities in the United States and other countries, and it is the only one that has extensive online resources for examples and problems in the back of chapters. Dr. Ponce has also web-published a Fortran text and is the author of sixty-nine (69) online scripts for hydrologic and hydraulic calculations, open to the world at-large.

Dr. Ponce is currently completing a study of the hydrologic and environmental impact of irrigation on the Vitor valley, in Arequipa, Peru. He is also participating in the design of the La Leche dam, in Lambayeque, Peru. In 2006-07, he performed the following studies: (1) the sustainable yield of ground water, (2) impact of the proposed Campo landfill on the hydrology of the Tierra del Sol watershed, in San Diego County, California; and (3) groundwater utilization and sustainability. In 2005, he was a member of the Peer Review Panel assembled for the evaluation of South Florida's Regional Simulation Model (RSM). Also in 2005 he completed a study of the hydrology and hydraulics of Tecate Creek, Baja California, Mexico. In 2004 he completed a study of the sustainable architecture of Arroyo Alamar, and a study on the feasibility of pumping to provide recycled water for the Tecate River Park. In 2003 he completed a study of the hydroecological characterization of the Arroyo Alamar. In 2002 he completed a study of three issues of sustainable management in the Ojos Negros valley, Baja California. In 2001 he completed an interdisciplinary study of groundwater depletion in the Ojos Negros valley, in Baja California, and a study of the flood hydrology of the Binational Cottonwood Creek- Arroyo Alamar.

In 1995, Dr. Ponce performed a reference study of the hydrologic and environmental impact of the Parana-Paraguay Waterway, on the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, which comprises five countries in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). In 1992, he performed catchment routing studies in the Malaprabha river in Karnataka, India. In the 1980s, he completed research projects for the National Science Foundation, the USDA Soil Conservation Service, in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, in California. In the late 1970s, he completed research studies for the Agricultural Research Service, in Colorado, and the National Science Foundation, in Washington, D.C. In 1976, Dr. Ponce completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the Link Canals of Pakistan. His consulting experience includes several projects in San Diego County, California, and Pima and Mohave counties, Arizona.

His most recent international consulting experience has been with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (UST&DA) in Lambayeque, Peru, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Georgetown, Guyana and Cajamarca, Peru, and the Southern Peru Cooper Corporation in Cuajone, Peru. Other international consulting has been with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (Argentina and India), the European Union (EU) (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), the Organization of American States (OAS) (Bahia/Pernambuco and Mato Grosso, Brazil), and private consulting engineering firms in several countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. His professional experience encompasses the three largest South American river systems: (1) the Parana-Plata (the Upper Paraguay river, in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil), (2) the Amazon (the Pirai river, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia), and (3) the Orinoco (the Meta river, in Meta, Colombia). Other direct river experience includes the Santa Cruz river in Arizona, the São Francisco river in northeastern Brazil, the Itajai river in Santa Catarina, Brazil, the El Barbón, Alamar and Tecate rivers in Baja California, Mexico, and the Tlaxiaco river in Oaxaca, Mexico. His professional accomplishments include teaching, research, consulting and service in the following eighteen countries:  United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Germany, Portugal, Spain, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Dr. Ponce's interinstitutional academic collaboration has been with the following universities:  Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (Lima, Peru), Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo (Lambayeque, Peru), Universidad Andina Roger Caceres Velasquez (Juliaca, Peru), Universidad Nacional del Altiplano (Puno, Peru), Instituto Politecnico Nacional, ESIME-Culhuacan (Mexico City, Mexico), Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (Loja, Ecuador), Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria (Arequipa, Peru), Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (Lima, Peru), Universidad Nacional del Centro del Peru (Huancayo, Peru), Instituto Tecnologico de Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Mexico), El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Tijuana, Mexico), Universidad Mayor de San Simon (Cochabamba, Bolivia), Universidad Nacional de San Agustin (Arequipa, Peru), Instituto Politecnico Nacional, CIIDIR (Oaxaca, Mexico), Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (Mexicali and Ensenada, Mexico), Universidade Regional de Blumenau (Santa Catarina, Brazil), Universidade Federal de Ceara (Fortaleza, Brazil), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (Cuiaba, Brazil), University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (Madrid, Spain), and Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa's Instituto Superior Tecnico (Lisbon, Portugal).

Over the past 40 years of civil engineering practice, Dr. Ponce has authored more than 480 publications, including 2 textbooks (Engineering Hydrology and Fortran), 49 refereed journal papers, 73 proceedings papers, 188 technical reports and other publications, 93 online scripts for hydrologic and hydraulic calculations, and 78 professional and other stories. He has received 15 honors and awards, including the prestigious ASCE Karl E. Hilgard Hydraulics Prize. He has presented 136 invited lectures in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. His comprehensive website (http://ponce.sdsu.edu) is used as a reference on hydraulic and hydrologic engineering by students, colleagues, and other interested parties all over the world.

Spanish version