Student: Chung-Yi Lin
Project: Py-RAMID: A modularized two-way coupling framework to simulate complex adaptive water systems
View: Research Poster (PDF) | Presentation (YouTube)
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Ethan Yang
Abstract
In order to address co-evolution challenges in a coupled natural-human system, the two-way coupling technique is gaining attention in studies of complex adaptive water system. However, most existing modeling frameworks lack user-friendly mechanisms to smoothly model interactions between human actors and the natural environment. Therefore, we developed a Python package of Riverware (a river-reservoir routing model) and Agent-based Modeling (ABM, a human decision model) Interface for Developers, Py-RAMID, to fulfill this specific need. We demonstrate the flexibility of Py-RAMID in ABM design and coupling structure through a real-world case study. We show step-by-step guidance for using Py-RAMID and how the resulting coupled models and adaptive diversion agents can successfully capture the dynamics of observed hydrological and irrigation diversion patterns. Furthermore, we find that ABM outputs can be limited by tight policy rules in the RiverWare model and model structure identification can suffer from the equifinality. We discuss how Py-RAMID can potentially pave the way for these future studies.
About Chung-Yi Lin
Mr. Chung-Yi Lin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Water Resources Engineering branch in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research interests are water resource management, agent-based modeling, and climate change risk assessment from a coupled nature-human perspective. Graduated from National Taiwan University (Master) in 2019, his previous work demonstrates a novel climate adaptation assessment framework (published) with a thousand-ponds-city case study in Taiwan. After joining Professor Yang’s research group at Lehigh University in 2019. He shifts his research focus to explore the coevolution between nature and human systems. He developed a simulation tool, Py-RAMID, and demonstrate it in the Yakima River Basin in the US (under review) to accelerate the science to move on. Mr. Lin also has many international experiences, including an internship at Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan and a visiting scholar at IMK-IFU Institute in Germany, and participating in several international conferences.