Tara Smith, as the Chief of the Delta Modeling Section, supervises a staff
of 13 engineers who specialize in the development and application of estuarine
modeling. She has served as chief since September 2002 and has been with
the Department of Water Resources since 1990. She began her career in
Delta modeling in 1990 by incorporating a temperature model into the Department's
Delta Simulation Model (DSM1). Her experience in Delta Modeling includes
the hydrodynamic and water quality applications of DSM1 and DSM2 in historic,
forecasting and planning modes. Her experience also includes the development
and application of the particle tracking model (PTM), a module of DSM1
and later a module of DSM2.
Under Tara's supervision, engineers within the section work on a variety
of different estuarine model development projects and applications. Applications
include modeling simulations in support of the Pelagic Organism Decline
investigation, Climate Change, the South Delta Improvements Program, the
South Delta Temporary Barrier's Program, the CALFED Delta Cross Channel
Through Delta Facility Team, the Integrated Storage Investigations Program,
Operation's and Maintenance Real Time Modeling, San Joaquin Dissolved
Oxygen Total Maximum Daily Load Team, and the Municipal Water Quality
Investigations Program.
Development projects include the calibration and validation of DSM2,
enhancements to DSM2 to address more complex modeling questions, creation
of model interfaces and databases, development of quality assurance postprocessing
tools, and the development and adoption of new multi-dimensional models
to answer the increasing complex questions about proposed changes in the
estuary. Developments within the section are documented in the section's
Annual Progress report to the State Water Resources Control Board.
Tara holds a B.S. degree in Engineering from Trinity University in San
Antonio, Texas and a M.S. degree from the Department of Civil Engineering,
University of California at Davis.
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