Biography

Gerald Kauffman is Director of the University of Delaware Water Resources Center (UDWRC), one of the 54 National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) supported by the U.S. Geological Survey at 54 land grant universities in the fifty states, D.C., and three island territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.  The UDWRC is a research center in the Institute for Public Administration in the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration.  Dr. Kauffman holds a faculty appointment as Associate Professor in the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Geography Department and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in watershed science and policy, hydrology, and hydraulics. Dr. Kauffman serves on the admissions committee of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Water Science and Policy and on the Environmental Academic Affairs Council that oversees undergraduate environmental science/studies majors at the University of Delaware. 

Dr. Kauffman provides water science and policy assistance to governments in Delaware and the Delaware Valley through the land-grant public service, education, and research role of the University of Delaware. Dr. Kauffman serves as Delaware's first Water Master appointed by the Delaware Water Supply Coordinating Council Act and co-chairs the Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership, an interstate effort between the EPA, Delaware River Basin Commission, Delaware, and Pennsylvania to restore the watershed that provides 60 percent of the First State's drinking water supply.

Degrees

Ph.D., Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware  (2014)

MPA, Water Policy, University of Delaware (2003)

Certified Public Manager Program (Level III), Graduate Program in Public Administration, Rutgers University (1988)

B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering with a concentration in Water Resources, Rutgers University (1981)

Experience

2003 – Present Director, Water Resources Center, University of Delaware

2021 – Present Associate Professor, University of Delaware

2014 – Present​ Assistant Professor, University of Delaware​

​1997 – 2015 Project Director, Water Resources Agency, Institute for Public Administration, University of Delaware        

1993 – 1997 Water Resources Agency for New Castle County (Newark, Del.)            

1989 – 1993 Donohue and Associates, Consultants (Chicago, Ill.)

1981 – 1989 New Jersey Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection (Trenton, N.J.)

Affiliations

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

American Water Resources Association (AWRA)

Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR)

Courses Taught

UAPP 411/611 Regional Watershed Management

CIEG 440 Water Resources Engineering

GEOG 432/632 Environmental Hydrology

Appointments

Director, University of Delaware Water Resources Center, one of the 54 National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) supported by the U.S. Geological Survey at land grant universities in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and three island territories. 2015 – present.

Assistant Professor, faculty appointment by the University of Delaware, Department of Geography, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. 2016 – present.

Assistant Professor, faculty appointment by the University of Delaware, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering. 2015 – present.

Assistant Professor, faculty appointment by the University of Delaware, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, 2014 – present.

Director, University of Delaware, Water Resources Agency. 2003 – present.

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). 2010 – present.

University of Delaware, Undergraduate Environmental Academic Affairs Council. 2009 – present.

Co-chair, UDWATER Project. 2008 – present.

State Water Coordinator (Water Master), appointed by the Governor and General Assembly under the Delaware Water Supply Coordinating Council Act. 2000 – present.

Co-chair, Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership, a program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Delaware River Basin Commission, State of Delaware, and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1995 – present.

Resource Protection Area Technical Advisory Committee (RPATAC), appointed by the New Castle County Executive, by authority of the New Castle County Unified Development Code. 1996 – present.

Faculty Advisor, University of Delaware, Student Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA). 2007 – present.

Research Interests

Water Science and Policy; River Basin Governance, Economics, and Policy; Hydrology and Hydraulics, Environmental Policy.