Biography

Dr Vladan Babovic is currently a Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. degrees from both UNESCO-IHE and Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 1995. In 2001 he has obtained a business degree at IMD in Lausanne (Switzerland). Prior to joining NUS, he was Head of Emerging Technologies at Danish Hydraulic Institute (1995-2002) and Senior Research Scientist at WL | Delft Hydraulics (2003-2005).

 

Positions Held

• Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering (since 2005) and
  Director, Singapore Delft Water Alliance (since 2007)
  Adjunct Professor, Centre for EcoHydraulics Research, University of Idaho1998-present
  Adjunct Professor, IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, 1999-present
  Visiting Lecturer, Hydroinformatics Programme, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands,
  1996-present
• Senior Research Scientist
  WL | Delft Hydraulics, Delft, The Netherlands, 2004-2005
• Partner and Chief Technology Officer
  Tectrasys AG, Wollerau, Switzerland, 2003-2005
• Head of Emerging Technologies
  DHI Water & Environment, Hørsholm, Denmark, 1995-2003
• Research Fellow in Hydroinformatics
  International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands, 1991-1995
• Research Fellow
  Danish Hydraulic Institute, Hørsholm, Denmark, 1990-1991

Consultancy Projects

• BMT - Jeppesen Marine Advisory Service
• BMT Feasibility and Detailed Design of Singapore River Diversion, Mott Mac Donald
• Proposed River Crossing near proposed MRT Station, ARUP

Qualifications

• Double Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands and International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands
  Thesis: Hydroinformatics: Emergence, Evolution, Intelligence, 1991-1996
• Programme for Executive Development
  International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2001-2002
• Master of Science (M.Sc., cum laude) in Hydroinformatics International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands, 1990-1991
• Diploma of Hydraulic Engineering (DipHE, cum laude) in Computational Hydraulics, International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands, 1989-1990
• Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (Dipl. Ing, cum laude) Major in Hydraulic Engineering, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, (former) Yugoslavia, 1981-1986

Honours & Awards

• 1999 — Arthur Thomas Ippen Award of the International Association for Hydraulic Research
• 1998 — Talent Award of Danish Academy of Technical Sciences
• 1997 — The Best Paper Award, Danish Hydraulics, 2nd International Software Conference
• 1986 — Jaroslav Cerni Award as the best Civil Engineering graduate at the Faculty

Professional Activities

• Member of Board of Directors and Chairman Water Committee, Dutch Chamber of Commerce, Singapore
• Adjunct Professor, Centre for EcoHydraulics Research, University of Idaho, USA
• Visiting Lecturer, Hydroinformatics Programme, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands
• Member of Council of Authors of the International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (ISGEC)
• Standing Member of Core Programme Policy Committee for Genetic Programming of the International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (ISGEC)

Editorial Boards

• International Association for Hydraulic Research (IAHR)
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (ISGEC)

Teaching Areas

• Hydroinformatics
• Water Resources Management
• Systems Architecting
• Real Options

Research Interests

• artificial intelligence
• machine learning
• data mining and knowledge discovery
• data-driven modelling
• data assimilation
• computational hydraulics
• hydroinformatics

Selected Publications

1. 2011, A real options approach to design and architech water supply systems using alternative water resources under uncertainty, Journal of Hydroinformatics, Vol. 14, Issue 1 (with S Zhang)
2. 2011, An evolutionary real options framework for design and management large-scale projects and systems with multiple real options, Decision Support System, Vol. 51 (with S Zhang)
3. 2010, Architecting a maritime domain protection system:, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering-ASCE (with Buurman J and Z Xu)
4. 2010, Multi-step-ahead model error prediction using time-delay neural networks combined with chaos theory, Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 395, Issue 2010, pp. 109-116 (with Sun Y and E S Chan)
5. 2009, Reducing risk through real options in system design: The case of architecting a maritime domain protection system, Risk Analysis, Vol 29, Issue 3, pp 366-379
6. 2009, Introducing knowledge into learning based on genetic programming, Journal of Hydroinformatics, Vol. 11, Issue 3-4, pp 181-193
7. 2009, Applying local model approach for tidal prediction in a deterministic model, International Journal for Numerical Method in Fluids, Vol. 60, Issue 6, pp 651-667 (with Sun Y, Piyamarn Sisomphon and ES Chan)
8. 2009, Reducing risk through real options in systems design: The case of architecting a maritime domain protection system, Risk Analysis, Vol. 29, Issue 3, pp 366-379 (with Buurman, JJ G and X Zhang)
9. 2009, Efficient data assimilation method based on chaos theory and kalman filter with an application in Singapore regional model, Journal of Hydro-environment research, Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp 85-95 (with Sun Y, Piyamarn Sisomphon and ES Chan)
10. 2007, On inducing equations for vegetation resistance, Journal of Hydraulic Research, Vol. 44, Issue 5, (with J Rodrigues, M Baptist, M Keijzer, R Uittenbogaard, A Verwey and A Mynett)
11. 2000, Genetic programming as a model induction engine, Journal of Hydroinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 35-60 (with Keijzer, M.)
12. 2001, Neural networks as a routine for error correction of numerical models, ASCE Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 3, pp. 181-193 (with Jensen, H.R., Klinting, A.K. and Canizares, R.T.)
13. 1997, The evolution of equation from hydraulic data, Part I: Theory, Journal of Hydraulic Research, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 397 – 410 (with M.B. Abbott)
14. 2001, Genetic programming and its application in real-time runoff forcasting, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 37, Issue 2, pp. 439-451 (with Soon Thiam Khu, Shie-Yui Liong, Nitin Muttil and Henrik Madsen)
15. 2004, EC-SVM approach for real-time hydrologic forecasting, Journal of Hydroinformatics, Vol. 6, pp. 209-223 (with Xinying Yu, and Shie-Yui Liong)
16. 1999, Dimensionally Aware Genetic Programming, Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Vol. 2, (with M. Keijzer)
17. 1996, Emergence, Evolution, Intelligence: Hydroinformatics, Balkema Publishers, Book
18. 1994, Calibrating hydrodynamic models by means of simulated evolution, Hydroinformatics '94. Proc. 1st international conference, Delft, 1994. Vol. 1
19. 2002, A data mining approach to modelling of water supply assets, Urban Water, Vol. 4, Issue 4, pp 401-414 (with Jean-Philippe Drecourt, M. Keijzer and Peter Friss Hansen)
20. 2007, On inducing equations for vegetation resistance, Journal of Hydraulic Research, Vol. 45, Issue 4, pp 435-450 (with M.J. Baptist, J. Rodriquez Uthurburu, M. Keijzer, R.E. Uittenbogaard, A. Mynett and A. Verwey)