Research on stormwater and stream management - Jason Vogel

Jason R. Vogel, Ph.D., P.E., serves as the newest of our WaTER Center Co-Directors. Three years ago, Jason was appointed as Director of the Oklahoma Water Survey, whose foci include monitoring, outreach, research, and education related to the water challenges facing the state and region. In addition to his responsibilities as director, Vogel is a professor in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science.

Jason Vogel discusses rainwater harvesting in an urban setting.

For more than 20 years, Vogel has worked to facilitate and develop solutions for water issues throughout the Great Plains. Prior to joining the Survey, he held faculty and research positions at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and at the U.S. Geological Survey.

While at OSU, he developed an award-winning stormwater and stream management research and outreach program and is recognized as one of the leading experts in low-impact development stormwater management systems in the region.

One of Jason's professional passions is natural stormwater treatment systems.

Dr. Vogel's research team analyzes methods for bank erosion protection in streams and reservoirs. 

At the 2019 International Water Conference, Jason led a session that combined presenters from both the U.S. and a developing country, highlighting the water challenges that are common to both. Representatives from India and the U.S. discussed environmental flows and how these relate to ecosystem health, while those from Kenya and U.S. discussed surface water quality improvement and Bolivian and U.S. reps presented their work with environmental youth programs in country. 

Dr. Vogel's research team continues to conduct effective research in hydrology, water quality, stormwater, and streams. Recent and continuing studies include development of a water balance model for southeast Oklahoma, evaluating the effectiveness of in-stream structures on reducing streambank erosion, optimizing best management practices selection and placement in the Lake Thunderbird watershed, and utilizing floating wetland wavebreaks to reduce lakeshore erosion in reservoirs. His work also includes both teaching and research on the principles and technologies of low impact development both on campus and to professionals across the state of Oklahoma. 

We are privileged and proud to have Jason Vogel as a Co-Director of the OU WaTER Center!