Specialties
Watershed Planning, Decision Support Systems, Emerging Stormwater Contaminants, Urban Stream Restoration, Remote Sensing and Data Analytics, Applied Environmental Statistics, Urban Stormwater Management Planning and Design, Watershed and Water Quality Studies and Modeling, Resilience and Adaptation, Environmental Permitting and Compliance, Data Science and Machine Learning, Geographic Information System (GIS), Visualization, and Modeling
Practice Areas
Environmental Management; Water and Natural Resources
Education
MS, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 2005; BS, Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2001
Registration
Professional Engineer: California # C69530, Washington # 45028; Project Management Professional (PMP) #4439464
Client Service
By bridging environmental engineering and technology, Christian helps agencies and communities use data-driven tools to better understand and manage their water systems and watersheds, as well as the ecosystems they support. To accomplish this, he specializes in community-based decision support tools that make stormwater management more transparent, equitable, and responsive to local needs, inclusive of historically underserved neighborhoods.
Christian has developed new methods for integrating remote sensing and machine learning into watershed-planning initiatives, enabling more accurate predictions of runoff, stormwater pollution, and the performance of green infrastructure investments. In particular, he led the development of the Puget Sound Stormwater Heatmap for The Nature Conservancy in Washington, an open-source, interactive mapping and analytics platform that visualizes runoff and pollution hotspots. This work earned a Geo for Good Impact Award from Google.
Christian has served on technical advisory committees and workgroups for the Washington Department of Ecology, the Washington Governor’s Office, and The Nature Conservancy.
Contact Christian at CNilsen@Geosyntec.com.
