Dr. Victor Miguel Ponce is professor of civil engineering at San Diego State University (SDSU). His areas of expertise are: hydrology, surface water hydrology, computational hydrology, environmental hydrology, flood hydrology, drought hydrology, hydrosedimentology, and potamology. He earned M.S. (1970) and Ph.D. (1976) degrees at Colorado State University, reached the rank of full professor at SDSU 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 in many universities in the United States, Canada, and other countries.

Dr. Ponce's has been recently funded by SCERP (Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy) to study the hydrology and hydraulics for the Tecate Creek corridor restoration, in Baja California, Mexico (2004-2005). He has also been recently completed (2004) a study for the Institute of Regional Studies of the Californias (IRSC) on the feasibility of pumping to provide recycled water for the Tecate River Park. He is currently completing a study of the sustainable architecture of Arroyo Alamar, in Baja California, Mexico (2003-2004). In 2003 he completed a study of the hydroecological characterization of the Arroyo Alamar (2002-2003). In 2002 he completed a study of three issues of sustainable management in the Ojos Negros valley, Baja California (2001-02). In 2001 he completed an interdisciplinary study of groundwater depletion in the Ojos Negros valley, in Baja California. In 2001 he completed a study of the flood hydrology of the Binational Cottonwood Creek- Arroyo Alamar, in Southern California and Baja California. In 1995, he completed a study of the hydrologic and environmental impact of the Parana-Paraguay Waterway, which comprises five countries in South America.

His international consulting experience has been with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Commission of European Communities (CEC), the Organization of American States (OAS), and private consulting engineering firms in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. His research and consulting experience encompasses the three largest South American river systems: (1) the Parana-Plata (Rio Alto Paraguay, Brazil), (2) the Amazon (Rio Pirai, Bolivia), and (3) the Orinoco (Rio Meta, Colombia). Other direct river experience includes the following countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela, India, Pakistan, and the U.S.

Dr. Ponce's collaboration with foreign universities include the Universidad Mayor de San Simon (Cochabamba, Bolivia), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (Cuiaba, Brazil), Universidad Nacional de San Agustin (Arequipa, Peru), Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (Lima, Peru), Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (Lima, Peru), Instituto Tecnologico de Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Mexico), Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (Mexicali and Ensenada, Mexico), 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 36 years, Dr. Ponce has authored more than 250 publications, including 2 textbooks, 51 refereed journal papers, 68 proceedings papers, and 132 technical reports and other publications. He has received several awards, including the prestigious ASCE Karl E. Hilgard Hydraulics Prize. He has lectured extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.