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Se Jong Cho, PhD

Se Jong develops computer simulation models to organize complex environmental information for understanding sediment sources, transport, and fate across a landscape, and to evaluate landscape management scenarios to inform policy decision analysis.

Se Jong received her PhD in Environmental Engineering and Management from Johns Hopkins University, working with Drs. Peter Wilcock and Benjamin Hobbs. Her research has focused on addressing environmental problems, such as land degradation, soil erosion, and water pollution, from multidisciplinary perspectives, incorporating social, economic, and environmental dimensions to find conservation solutions. As a research hydrologist at USGS, Se Jong investigates integrated hydrologic-sediment connectivity through understanding spatial-temporal feedback between fluvial processes and geomorphic drivers of sediment sourcing, transfer, and loading.  She is also a part of a national water quality predictions task to improve process-understanding and predictive-modeling of sediment sources, storages, and transport through evaluation of water quality monitoring and sediment dynamics using high-fidelity environmental data and Machine-Learning capabilities.

Professional Experience

  • June 2021 to present: Research Hydrologist. Improved Understanding and Prediction of Prioritized Water Quality Constituents in IWS basins and the Nation. USGS Water Resources Mission Area, Reston, VA

  • September 2020 to present: Research Hydrologist/Mendenhall Fellow. Sediment Modeling across Spatiotemporal Scales, USGS Water Resources Mission Area, Reston, VA

  • August 2018- August 2020: Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Water Resources Management with Green Infrastructure. The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, University of Maryland, Annapolis, MD

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D., 2017 Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

  • MSE, 2014 Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

  • MS, 2009 Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

  • BS, 2003 Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Abstracts and Presentations

  • “What’s up post-doc? Wildlife disease, modeling river hydrology, environmental justice in the Great Lakes, and coastal vulnerability in Puerto Rico: USGS post-doctoral researchers in action across multiple disciplines.” National Diversity in STEM Conference, The 2022 SACNAS, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

  • “Sediment sources linked to hydrologic pathways and relative transit time: unraveling structural vs. functional connectivity.” 2021 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA

  • “Implementing landscape connectivity with a Topographic Filtering model” 2021 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA

  • “Simulation of sediment pulses in Landlab: Network Sediment Transporter Component” Earth Surface Processes Institute (ESPIn) 2021, Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.

Science and Products

Sediment sources and connectivity linked to hydrologic pathways and geomorphic processes: A conceptual model to specify sediment sources and pathways through space and time

Sediment connectivity is a conceptualization for the transfer and storage of sediment among different geomorphic compartments across upland landscapes and channel networks. Sediment connectivity and dysconnectivity are linked to the water cycle and hydrologic systems with the associated multiscale interactions with climate, soil, topography, ecology, and landuse/landcover under natural variability
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Diana Karwan, Katherine Skalak, James Pizzuto, Max Huffman
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Sediment sources and connectivity linked to hydrologic pathways and geomorphic processes: A conceptual model to specify sediment sources and pathways through space and time

Sediment connectivity is a framework for transfer and storage of sediment among different geomorphic compartments across upland and channel network of the catchment sediment cascade. Sediment connectivity and dysconnectivity (i.e., source delivery and storage processes) are linked to the water cycle and hydrologic systems with the associated multiscale interactions with climate, soil, topography,
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Diana Karwan, Katherine Skalak, James Pizzuto, Max Huffman
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Implementing landscape connectivity with topographic filtering model: A simulation of suspended sediment delivery in an agricultural watershed

The widespread availability of high-fidelity topography combined with advances in geospatial analysis offer the opportunity to reimagine approaches to the difficult problem of predicting sediment delivery from watersheds. Here we present a model that uses high-resolution topography to filter sediment sources to quantify sediment delivery to the watershed outlet. It is a reduced-complexity, top-dow
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Peter R Wilcock, Karen B. Gran
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Non-USGS Publications**

Cho, S.J., Wilcock, P., Gran, K., 2022. Implementing landscape connectivity with topographic filtering model: A simulation of suspended sediment delivery in an agricultural watershed. Science of The Total Environment 155701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155701
Cho, S.J., Braudrick, C.A., Dolph, C.L., Day, S.S., Dalzell, B.J., Wilcock, P.R., 2021. Simulation of fluvial sediment dynamics through strategic assessment of stream gaging data: A targeted watershed sediment loading analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 277, 111420. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111420
Hansen, A.T., Campbell, T., Cho, S.J., Czuba, J.A., Dalzell, B.J., Dolph, C.L., Hawthorne, P.L., Rabotyagov, S., Lang, Z., Kumarasamy, K., Belmont, P., Finlay, J.C., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Gran, K.B., Kling, C.L., Wilcock, P., 2021. Integrated assessment modeling reveals near-channel management as cost-effective to improve water quality in agricultural watersheds. PNAS 118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024912118
Cho, S.J., Wilcock, P., Belmont, P., Gran, K., Hobbs, B., 2019. Simulation model for collaborative decision-making on sediment source reduction in an intensively managed watershed. Water Resource Research. doi: 10.1029/2018WR024324
Gran, K., Dolph, C., Baker, A., Bevis, M., Cho, S.J., Czuba, J.A., Dalzell, B., Danesh‐Yazdi, M., Hansen, A., Kelly, S., Lang, Z., Schwenk, J., Belmont, P., Finlay, J.C., Kumar, P., Rabotyagov, S., Roehrig, G., Wilcock, P., Foufoula‐Georgiou, E., 2019. The power of environmental observatories for advancing multidisciplinary research, outreach, and decision support: the case of the Minnesota River Basin. Water Resources Research. doi.org/10.1029/2018WR024211
Cho, S. J., Wilcock, P., Hobbs, B., 2018. Topographic filtering simulation model for sediment source apportionment. Geomorphology 309C, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.02.014
Mitchell, N., Kumarasamy, K., Cho, S., Belmont, P., Dalzell, B., Gran, K., 2018. Reducing High Flows and Sediment Loading through Increased Water Storage in an Agricultural Watershed of the Upper Midwest, USA. Water 10(8), 1053. doi: 10.3390/w10081053

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products

Sediment sources and connectivity linked to hydrologic pathways and geomorphic processes: A conceptual model to specify sediment sources and pathways through space and time

Sediment connectivity is a conceptualization for the transfer and storage of sediment among different geomorphic compartments across upland landscapes and channel networks. Sediment connectivity and dysconnectivity are linked to the water cycle and hydrologic systems with the associated multiscale interactions with climate, soil, topography, ecology, and landuse/landcover under natural variability
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Diana Karwan, Katherine Skalak, James Pizzuto, Max Huffman
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Sediment sources and connectivity linked to hydrologic pathways and geomorphic processes: A conceptual model to specify sediment sources and pathways through space and time

Sediment connectivity is a framework for transfer and storage of sediment among different geomorphic compartments across upland and channel network of the catchment sediment cascade. Sediment connectivity and dysconnectivity (i.e., source delivery and storage processes) are linked to the water cycle and hydrologic systems with the associated multiscale interactions with climate, soil, topography,
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Diana Karwan, Katherine Skalak, James Pizzuto, Max Huffman
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Implementing landscape connectivity with topographic filtering model: A simulation of suspended sediment delivery in an agricultural watershed

The widespread availability of high-fidelity topography combined with advances in geospatial analysis offer the opportunity to reimagine approaches to the difficult problem of predicting sediment delivery from watersheds. Here we present a model that uses high-resolution topography to filter sediment sources to quantify sediment delivery to the watershed outlet. It is a reduced-complexity, top-dow
Authors
Se Jong Cho, Peter R Wilcock, Karen B. Gran
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Non-USGS Publications**

Cho, S.J., Wilcock, P., Gran, K., 2022. Implementing landscape connectivity with topographic filtering model: A simulation of suspended sediment delivery in an agricultural watershed. Science of The Total Environment 155701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155701
Cho, S.J., Braudrick, C.A., Dolph, C.L., Day, S.S., Dalzell, B.J., Wilcock, P.R., 2021. Simulation of fluvial sediment dynamics through strategic assessment of stream gaging data: A targeted watershed sediment loading analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 277, 111420. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111420
Hansen, A.T., Campbell, T., Cho, S.J., Czuba, J.A., Dalzell, B.J., Dolph, C.L., Hawthorne, P.L., Rabotyagov, S., Lang, Z., Kumarasamy, K., Belmont, P., Finlay, J.C., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Gran, K.B., Kling, C.L., Wilcock, P., 2021. Integrated assessment modeling reveals near-channel management as cost-effective to improve water quality in agricultural watersheds. PNAS 118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024912118
Cho, S.J., Wilcock, P., Belmont, P., Gran, K., Hobbs, B., 2019. Simulation model for collaborative decision-making on sediment source reduction in an intensively managed watershed. Water Resource Research. doi: 10.1029/2018WR024324
Gran, K., Dolph, C., Baker, A., Bevis, M., Cho, S.J., Czuba, J.A., Dalzell, B., Danesh‐Yazdi, M., Hansen, A., Kelly, S., Lang, Z., Schwenk, J., Belmont, P., Finlay, J.C., Kumar, P., Rabotyagov, S., Roehrig, G., Wilcock, P., Foufoula‐Georgiou, E., 2019. The power of environmental observatories for advancing multidisciplinary research, outreach, and decision support: the case of the Minnesota River Basin. Water Resources Research. doi.org/10.1029/2018WR024211
Cho, S. J., Wilcock, P., Hobbs, B., 2018. Topographic filtering simulation model for sediment source apportionment. Geomorphology 309C, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.02.014
Mitchell, N., Kumarasamy, K., Cho, S., Belmont, P., Dalzell, B., Gran, K., 2018. Reducing High Flows and Sediment Loading through Increased Water Storage in an Agricultural Watershed of the Upper Midwest, USA. Water 10(8), 1053. doi: 10.3390/w10081053

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.