Dr Anika Kuczynski

Water Quality Modeller

Qualifications

Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, USA
MS, Environmental Engineering, The University of Alabama, USA
BS, Civil Engineering, The University of Alabama, USA

Engineer in Training (passed Fundamentals of Engineering Exam)

Location
Christchurch
Science Centre

Contact Details

Biography

I am originally from Germany and completed engineering degrees in Tuscaloosa, AL and in Houghton, MI, USA. I have experience in mechanistic water quality modelling focusing on attached algae in lakes and working with public stakeholders. My work at NIWA focuses on periphyton monitoring, modelling, and management in rivers. At Michigan Tech (2012-2017), I was part of an interdisciplinary team with a goal of simulating attached algal growth by means of linking hydrodynamics and water quality models. To support modelling, I led field and laboratory efforts on the Laurentian Great Lakes, served as lab manager, and supervised undergraduate and new graduate students. As an undergraduate student, I completed a summer internship in the Department for Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes at the IfM-GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany (2009) and   studied abroad in francophone Liège, Belgium (2010). Throughout my university studies, I enjoyed teaching and mentoring as a teaching assistant for several engineering courses, as a writing consultant, and as a Ph.D. fellow for two NSF teaching programs with the purpose of introducing middle and high school teachers and students to environmental systems modelling.