Michael D. Lee Ph.D. California State University, Hayward Department of Geography & Environmental Studies
My Contact Information My Courses My Publications My Personal Profile
My Research and Consulting Interests My Photographs My Links Curso de Manejo de Cuencas
My Contact Information
Name: Michael D. Lee Ph.D. Title: Associate Professor Office: RO 204 (Please note that there is no elevator to the 2nd floor and thus people with access difficulties should contact me and we can make alternative arrangements to meet at an alternative 1st floor location in the RO building)
Office Hours: Spring 2005 Th 11:30am-12:30pm and F 9:30-10:30pm or by appointment (see above concerning access to 2nd floor) E-mail Address: mlee@csuhayward.edu Telephone/Voicemail: (510) 885-3155, Fax: (510) 885-4748 or 2353 Mailing Address: Department of Geography & Environmental Studies California State University, Hayward 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard Hayward, CA 94542
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My Courses
I teach or have taught the following list of courses here at California State University, Hayward. For students wishing to check out past syllabi prior to deciding whether to plan to take a given course when offered by me in some future quarter, click on any of the underlined course numbers. The most recent syllabus is accessible through these links. However, I update and modify courses each time I give them and so the past syllabus is only a rough guide to the nature and scope of the course. Normally, updates of syllabi are available a week before the course is due to commence. In Spring 2005, I am teaching a section of GEOG 3330 for the first time and will also be supervising the internship program in environmental studies ENVT 4910.
Regular taught courses:
Internship courses:
To register for an internship course, you must first see me. I need to approve your internship and assign you the appropriate number of credits based on the number of hours you plan to intern. You will be given a numeric course code with which to register on SAIL. You can do your internship anytime during your academic program and make your internship presentation and submit your written work during any Fall, Winter or Spring quarter at the times scheduled by me. However, for environmental studies majors, we request for administrative purposes that you actually register for the class offered in the Spring quarter of 2005, even though it is listed in the Fall and Winter schedule. Anyone wishing to register for GEOG 6850 needs to see me personally for advising on course requirements and presentation/course work arrangements.
My Personal Profile
I am a British-educated physical geographer who has specialized in water resources management, conservation and planning issues in a variety of professional and academic postings in Europe, the United States and several developing countries including Kenya, Belize and Honduras. I took up my post in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at California State University, Hayward in the Fall of 1996. At CSU Hayward, I currently teach a broad range of undergraduate and graduate courses and seminars on Natural Resources Management, Water Resources Management, Watershed Management, World Development and Sustainable Development. I currently supervise the department's internship program, am one of the four Directors of the new CSU Hayward Environmental Science major and am also on the committee of the CSU Hayward Latin American Studies program. I am the Geography BA/BS major advisor and represent CSUH as campus representative to the CSU Academic Council on International Programs. I teach courses in both the School of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences and in the School of Sciences at Hayward.
I graduated in 1982 with a B.Sc. in Geography from the University of Nottingham, England and in1990 with a Ph.D. in Geography from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, England. My graduate research was funded by a scholarship from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. It focused on the water resource efficiency of a 2,000-year old irrigation farming system in the Negev Desert of Israel, for which I concentrated on arid-zone hillslope hydrological processes and developed a distributed computer simulation model of a watershed system modified by the addition of artificial drainage designed to maximize runoff production to flood terraces in the valleys below (Ph.D. Thesis Abstract). During my research, I developed a strong interest in the more human aspects of water management and financed my research by doing consulting projects in Kenya and Holland associated with practical issues related to the development and sustainability of safe drinking water supplies in developing countries. After submitting my doctoral thesis in 1989, I went on to continue my consulting work in Africa and Holland, working on water source development and protection issues for UNICEF, the Danish International Development Agency and the Dutch Ministry of Environment and publishing several reports for my employer, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre in The Hague.
I emigrated to the United States at the end of 1990 and after a six-month stint as a part-time consultant to the World Bank helping to prepare a text on water supply economics and environmental management with Senior Economist, Mohan Munasinghe, I took a water conservation job with the East Bay Municipal Utility District mid-way through the severe 1987-1992 California drought. I moved on to a leading Oakland-based resource conservation consulting company in 1992 to work in their water practice, providing water resource planning services to customers including the California Urban Water Agencies, the City of Portland, San Diego County Water Authority, EBMUD, and Alameda County Water District amongst others.
In 1993, I decided to return to academia. I took a post at the Pan-American School of Agriculture at Zamorano, Honduras, teaching resource management courses in the brand new Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Biology. I developed a number of courses on Water Resources and Watershed Management and Resources Planning as well as conducting research and consulting work. I carried out a major project for the US Agency for International Development in Belize, developing a plan for a national water quality monitoring framework with Dr. John Stednick of Colorado State University. I also coordinated the Honduran portion of a USAID $10 million global research project on Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (SANREM) visiting sister field sites in Costa Rica and on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. I conducted research into urban and rural watershed management problems in the capital of Tegucigalpa and the Department of Lempira, Honduras working with the national water service and various indigenous campesino community groups. I also supervised student theses on the topics of rural drinking water quality, watershed environmental health, water system infrastructure management, wastewater lagoons, agroindustrial contamination of streams, shrimp farm water quality, and solid waste management.
My current research interests focus on urban water resources management from a variety of angles. In particular I focus on water resource and watershed problems in developing nations, particularly with respect to growing urban centers. I also am very concerned with the challenges facing water utilities in the Western US and how they can best plan for urban growth in the context of finite and increasingly expensive and vulnerable water sources. I was Technical Advisor to the Metropolis in the preparation of its 2002 Commission 3 report Enhancing and maintaining water quality for metropolises (World Association of the Major Metropolises) and prepared a profile of the San Francisco region water supply situation and various sustainability issues as they relate to the San Francisco Bay Area metropolis (presented at Metropolis 2002, Seoul). I intend to further broaden my research over the next few years to include the wider aspects of sustainable water resources management in the Americas. I have coordinated two international short courses on integrated and sustainable watershed management to Spanish-speaking participants from Latin America, the most recent from August 30 through September 3, 1999 (II Curso Internacional de Manejo Integrado y Sostenible de Cuencas Hidrográficas).
I have visited and worked in more than 27 different countries over the last 15 years. I am the proud father of two young children, Graeme and Chloe, and live in Piedmont, California. I am fluent in Spanish.
My Publications and Presentations
Lee M.D. (2004). Comments on the International Forum on Water Management and Culture at Metropolises, Ixtapan de la Sal, México, March 29-30, 2004. Report to Metropolis Commission 6, World Association of Major Metropolises, Ixtapan de la Sal, México, March 31, 2004. (Text here).
Lee M.D. (2004). Water for all, Water for life: research, teaching and their application in the water sector. Agua para todos, Agua para la vida: investigación, enseñanza y sus aplicaciones en el sector hídrico. Keynote Speech. International Forum on Water Management and Culture at Metropolises, Ixtapan de la Sal, México, March 29-30, 2004. (Oral Presentation: Text only version of keynote address here).
Kramer C. and Lee M.D. (2004). Preparedness for dam failures in the San Francisco Bay Area. Natural Hazards Review. February 2004.
Lee M.D. (2003). Watershed Management: A Global Perspective. Keynote Speech. Second Quadrennial Contra Costa County Creek and Watershed Symposium, Walnut Creek, November 12, 2003. (Oral Presentation: Text only version of keynote address here)
Lee M.D. (2002). Enhancing and Maintaining Water Quality for Metropolises’: A Case Study of The City and County of San Francisco, California. Report to the Metropolis Environment Commission. May 27-31 2002, Metropolis Congress, Seoul, South Korea (click here to get report).
Lee M.D. (2000). Watershed Protection Challenges in Rapidly Urbanizing Regions: The Case of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Water International, Volume 25, Number 2, Pages 214-221, June 2000. International Water Resources Association.
Lee M.D., Hayes A. and Lowe M. (2000). Developing community-based stewardship of urban watersheds: A case study of Sausal Creek, Oakland, California. Living Downstream in the Next Millennium: Reconciling Watershed Concerns with Basin Management. Universities Council on Water Resources Annual Meeting, July 31-August 4, 2000, Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans, Louisiana (click here to get Powerpoint Presentation).
Lee M.D. (2000). "The implications of urban development for watersheds and water supplies in rapidly growing, developing world cities - The case of Tegucigalpa, Capital of Honduras". Upstream/Downstream Hydrosolidarity. Swedish International Water Institute, Stockholm.
Lee M.D. (1999). "Lessons on urban water supply sustainability from the California urban water management planning process". Presented at Water: World Lessons, June 29-July 2, 1999. Hilton Hotel, Kamuela, Hawai'i.
Lee M.D. (1999). "The implications of urban development for watersheds and water supplies in rapidly growing, developing world cities". Presented at the 9th Stockholm Water Symposium, Stockholm, Sweden. August 9-12, 1999 (Powerpoint Presentation here).
Lee M.D. (1997). "An overview of important watershed management issues in rapidly urbanizing metropolitan areas with reference to the Laguna de Bay Region". Proceedings of the Workshop on Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies, Philippine Center for Sustainable Development and Environmental Technologies, Manila, Philippines, 10-11 November, 1997.
Lee M.D. (1997). "Communicating natural resource sustainability issues using an interactive group game". Proceedings of the AWRA/UCOWR Symposium on Water Resources Education, Training and Practice, 29 June - 3 July, 1997. Keystone, CO.
Lee M.D. (1996). "Multiple resource needs and multiple conflicts in urban watersheds in developing countries: The case study of the Guacerique watershed, Tegucigalpa, Honduras". Proceedings of the UCOWR '96 Annual Meeting, Integrated Management of Surface and Ground Water, 30 July - 2 August, San Antonio, TX.
Lee M.D., Stednick J.D. and Gilbert D.M. (1996). "Contamination assessment in the Belize National Environmental Water Quality Monitoring Program". Proceedings of the UCOWR '96 Annual Meeting, Integrated Management of Surface and Ground Water, 30 July - 2 August, San Antonio, TX.
Lee M.D. (1996). "The geography of sustainable watershed management: Experiences from the Department of Lempira, Honduras". International Congress of Latin Americanist Geographers, 3-6 January, Tegucigalpa. 15 pages.
Government of Belize (1995). "Environmental Water Quality Monitoring Program". Final Report and Annexes to Final Report. Lee M.D., Stednick J.D., and Gilbert D.M. Report to USAID-NARMAP, June 1995. 310 pages plus maps.
Stednick J.D., Gilbert D.M. and Lee M.D. (1995). "Development of a National Water-Quality Monitoring Program for Belize". American Institute of Hydrology. Water Resources at Risk, May 14-18, Denver. Pages RA16-22.
Lee M.D. (1995). "Curso Internacional de Manejo Integrado Sostenible de Cuencas Hidrográficas". Text for short course given at the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Honduras, May 29-June 3, 1995. 95 pages plus annexes, diagrams, maps and aerial photographs.
Lee M.D. and Fiske G.S. (1993). "Water reliability analysis and planning (WRAP) model description and documentation". Report to California Urban Water Agencies. Barakat & Chamberlin, Inc.
Lee M.D. and Visscher J.T. (1992). "Water harvesting: A guide for planners and project managers". IRC Technical Paper 30. 106 pages.
Bastemeijer T.F. and Lee M.D. (1992). "Drinking water source deterioration - an urgent problem". Waterlines (in two parts), Vol.11, No.1, p9-12 & Vol.11, No.2, p22-25.
Lee, M.D. and Bastemeijer T.F. (1991). "Drinking water source protection: an overview of problems, causes, experiences and needs". IRC Occasional Paper 15. 66 pages.
Lee M.D. and Visscher J.T. (1990). "Water harvesting in five African countries". IRC Occasional Paper 14. 108 pages.
Lee M.D. and Nissen-Petersen E. (1989). "The use of low-cost, self-help rain water harvesting systems for community water supply in Southern Kenya". Proceedings. Fourth International Conference on Rain Water Cistern Systems, Manila.
My Research and Consulting Interests
I am currently working on issues related to community-based watershed management in the Bay Area, the California Urban Water Management Planning process and on the environmental problems facing urban watershed managers in rapidly expanding developing world cities. I conducted fieldwork in August 1997 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on the growing range of environmental issues in the watersheds supplying drinking water to this sprawling city of one million people in the heart of Central America, and returned there in August 1999 to witness how these problems have not yet been resolved and have in fact intensified following the impacts wrought by Hurricane Mitch. I am part of a USAID team developed by the International Resources Group to implement a $23 million, four-year program to strengthen watershed management across the Honduras. I perform pro-bono technical advisory work for the World Association of the Major Metropolises, reviewing reports, preparing presentations and chairing panel sessions at triennial meetings around the world.
I am currently putting the finishing touches to a proposal to establish a tailored Special Major package for a master's degree (MA or MS) in Water Resources Management with different core concentrations in the scientific/technical or the institutional/administrative aspects. With this package I hope to attract non-Geographer master's students into the Geography and Environmental Studies department to work with me and my colleagues from various disciplines and establish an interdisciplinary training opportunity in water resources for selected professionals from within the Bay Area community and beyond. Please contact me directly for details at the email or postal address listed above.
I am available for selective consulting projects on integrated water resources management planning and on water resource development issues in Central and Latin America. I am particularly interested in carrying out periodic, short-term evaluation and technical back-stopping missions for non-governmental agencies and the preparation of field reports and progress assessments. I am also available to teach customized intensive short courses of 5-8 days duration, in both English and Spanish, on the principles and practices of integrated and sustainable watershed management. Enquiries should be directed to me directly at the email or postal address listed above.
My Links
MY COURSES / MY HOME PAGE
ENVIRONMENT WEB LINKS / WATER WEB LINKS
MY DEPARTMENT / MY UNIVERSITY / MY COUNTRY
Send problems/comments/suggestions to: mlee@csuhayward.edu
Page last updated: 03/29/05