This track focuses on social science approaches for maximizing research impact. Participants will explore research strategies that advance research-to-operations (R2O) and research-to-applications (R2X) and enhance social impact through stakeholder engagement and decision-support development. Workshops will address key skills such as engaging forecast generators and users, assessing social impacts, building community trust, and improving operational outcomes. Attendees will gain practical skills and cross-disciplinary connections to strengthen their research teams.
Leads: George Van Houtven (RTI International), Corinne Schuster-Wallace (University of Saskatchewan)
Workshop Listings
Integrate User and Community Perspectives into Your R2O Pipeline to Improve Impact
Day 1 Session 1
Schuyler DeBree (RTI)
Corinne Schuster-Wallace (University of Saskatchewan)
Capturing and integrating user feedback strengthens the research-to-operations (R2O) pipeline and helps ensure that research outputs are operationally impactful. This workshop introduces methods for identifying and integrating stakeholder perspectives into CIROH research across a range of effort levels, from AI-supported strategies to systematic qualitative social science methods.
Participants will learn about audience research approaches such as interviews, focus groups, thematic analysis, network mapping, and AI-assisted techniques. Examples and findings from current and previous CIROH flood-focused social science projects will demonstrate how user insights can inform research design, communication, and operational products.
Why and How to Use Economics to Evaluate Forecasts and Value Their Impacts
Day 1 Session 2
George Van Houtven (RTI)
Daniel Lapidus (RTI)
Forecast systems are designed to improve societal decision-making, but measuring the value of these systems can be challenging. This workshop introduces economic methods—such as cost–benefit analysis and value-of-information approaches—that can be used to evaluate hydrologic forecast systems and quantify their societal benefits.
Using examples from flood, drought, and reservoir management applications, participants will explore how forecast-informed decisions can be modeled and valued, and how economic insights can support different audiences and decision contexts.
Day 2 Session 1
Kristin Raub (Northeastern University)
Irene Garousi-Nejad (CUAHSI)
Tony Castronova (CUAHSI)
This interactive workshop explores how interdisciplinary collaboration and meaningful end-user engagement can bridge the gap between hydrology research and real-world decision making. Using the co-development of FloodSavvy as a case study, participants will compare NOAA’s National Water Model with FloodSavvy to understand how hydrologic data can be translated into actionable flood risk insights.
Through demonstrations and facilitated discussion, participants will reflect on barriers and opportunities for community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration in hydrology decision-support tool development.
In Their Shoes: Flash Flood Decision-Making Under Forecast Uncertainty
Day 2 Session 2
Katie van Werkhoven (RTI)
Schuyler DeBree (RTI)
Hannah Lohman (RTI)
Yu-Fen Huang (University of Hawaii)
This immersive, scenario-based workshop places participants in the role of an emergency management team responding to a rapidly evolving flash flood event. Participants will receive uncertain, incomplete, and sometimes conflicting forecast and observational information and must make high-stakes decisions under time pressure.
Rather than focusing solely on model performance, the workshop highlights the human, institutional, and timing constraints that shape how forecasts are used in practice. A structured debrief connects the experience to forecast design, uncertainty communication, and evaluation practices.
Day 3 Session 1
Asim Zia (University of Vermont)
Patrick Clemins (University of Vermont)
This workshop explores how machine-learned emulator models can be used to quantify uncertainty in water quality predictions. Participants will examine how surrogate modeling approaches can support faster evaluation of scenarios, improve uncertainty characterization, and inform decision-making in water quality management.
The session emphasizes the role of uncertainty-aware modeling in supporting research-to-operations workflows and environmental decision support.
Podcasting for R2O: Sharing CIROH Science Beyond the Code
Day 3 Session 2
- Brock Parker (Alabama Water Institute)
- Kim Byers (Alabama Water Institute)
Podcasts offer a powerful way to communicate CIROH science beyond traditional technical documentation. This workshop introduces researchers and developers to podcasting and podcast-style communication as tools for explaining complex work clearly and engaging diverse audiences.
Participants will learn how to develop concise elevator pitches, translate technical concepts into plain language, and expand those ideas into longer, engaging conversations using real examples from CIROH and AWI podcast episodes.