Ovel Díaz García is a Numerical Modeling Research Scientist at The Water Institute’s Coastal and Deltaic Systems Modeling group.

Ovel graduated as a Nuclear Engineer at the Higher Institute of Technology and Applied Sciences, Havana, Cuba, and has applied his programming and numerical models experience to study environmental processes since his early research career. During his research years in Cuba and Mexico, he participated in national and international projects related mainly to numerical models. Ovel created the first three operational forecasting numerical systems of storm surge for Mexican coasts using ADCIRC for Mexican institutions like the National Meteorological Services (SMN), the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences (CCA).

His research includes using numerical models for atmospherics (WRF), hydrodynamics (MARS3D), storm surges (ADCIRC, FVCOM), waves (FUNWAVE, SWAN), and oil spills (GNOME) processes. His skills include applying numerical models, programming in MATLAB, Python, Pascal, FORTRAN, PHP, and using visualization and data processing tools like ArcGIS, QGIS, MapInfo, NCL, and Ferret. He is an expert Linux and HPC user with experience in scripting and automation processes.