Andrew Ernest
Chief Executive Officer

Biography
Andrew has over 30 years of professional experience in Environmental and Water Resource Engineering. He has over 25 years of experience as a hydrologic & water quality modeler, emphasizing first-principles-based model development and application, over 15 years’ experience in hydrologic & environmental informatics – focusing on translating scientific principles into language readily assimilable by elected officials and other decision makers, and over 10 years of specific emphasis on flood-related issues and other hydrologic extremes. Dr. Ernest spent 4 years as the Director of the Environmental Institute at the University of Alabama, working with the NOAA National Water Center during the roll-out of the National Water Model. He currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Research, Applied Technology, Education & Service, Inc., a nonprofit corporation focusing on developing and deploying small-community affordable real-time hydrologic sensors for water resource management and flood early warning, is a former Department Head and Full Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the founder of Open Environment, PLLC, a water resource technology startup.
Education
- PhD | 1991 | Civil Engineering | Texas A&M University
- MS | 1985 | Civil Engineering | University of Southwestern Louisiana
- BS | 1984 | Civil Engineering | University of Southwestern Louisiana
Certifications
- PE / TX / 83476
- PE / KY / 24824
- D.WRE Diplomate / Water Resource Engineer / American Academy of Water Resources