Caitlin Turner, recipient of the 2026 Student Modeler award
Recently defended Doctor, College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University
Caitlin Turner earned the Student Modeler Award for her innovative modeling framework, GaugePredict. Built on a Convolutional Neural Network–Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-LSTM) architecture, the framework generates highly accurate daily discharge forecasts weeks in advance, demonstrated across the Mississippi River Basin. What makes this work especially compelling is its combination of precision and efficiency. Dr. Turner not only shows strong forecasting performance downstream at the Bonnet Carré Spillway but also introduces a thoughtful analysis to identify the most influential upstream gauges driving forecast skill. By strategically reducing the number of required inputs, she streamlines the model and lowers computational demands—making it possible to run GaugePredict on a standard laptop.
The framework is well organized and documented, and openly accessible, reflecting a strong commitment to reproducible science. You can explore GaugePredict at: https://github.com/caitlinturner/GaugePredict
Caitlin Turner is a former PhD Student in the Coastal Hydrology, Hydrodynamics and Oceanography (Coastal H2O) Group. Advisor: Matthew Hiatt, Associate Professor, College of Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University
