Our People
Meet Elise Ibendahl
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
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Elise Ibendahl is a champion of innovation for flood modeling technologies, and throughout her 25-year career she has performed the roles of project manager and/or subject matter expert for over 90 projects related to stormwater and flood risk management in over 15 countries.
As Jacobs Global Principal for Flood Modeling and Planning, Elise’s expertise includes hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, flood risk and stormwater management studies, CSO long term control plan implementation, hazard mitigation planning and design, stormwater master planning, green infrastructure solutions, disaster recovery, and regulatory floodplain mapping and permitting related projects. At Jacobs, she has also served as North Region Solutions Leader for Water Resources and as a Global Technology Leader.
Elise specializes in urban flood risk management modeling and planning, including integration of 1D and 2D modeling environments in a variety of software platforms. She also contributes to the development of advanced modeling software and platforms such as Flood Modeller and Flood Platform. She is proficient in the analysis of hydrology, sewer systems, open channels, floodplains and watersheds for a wide range of scales and applications.
Elise grew up in rural southern Illinois and always thought she would stay close to home. Growing up playing in the creek, a career in water appealed to her, so she attended Christian Brothers University’s civil engineering program in Memphis. She also has a minor in piano performance and was the lead accompanist for CBU’s choirs through all four years of college. Elise splits her time between work and her other passion: music!
Elise is a trustee for the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Foundation, co-chair of the Foundation’s scholarship committee, and is an active member of ASFPM. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), currently active as a task leader for ASCE’s national MOSAIC (Members of Society Advancing an Inclusive Culture) council and with past leadership roles including ASCE Region VII Governor and chair of the St. Louis Section of Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI). Elise is currently an External Advisory Committee member for Washington University’s Environmental Engineering department, and previously served in a similar role for St. Louis University.
“The magnitude and frequency of extreme flood events is globally increasing and disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable populations. At the same time, a rapid increase in technology and available data allows us to understand flood impacts at an unprecedented scale. This allows us to efficiently focus the development of cost-effective mitigation solutions where they are most needed.”
Elise Ibendahl
Get to know Elise
What is your favorite part of your role?
It’s a tough call between our amazing people and the amazing projects!
What advice would you give to young professionals?
Young professionals who work with me are probably going to laugh at this one, because they likely know my ‘working with Elise speech’ well. Never be afraid to ask questions! But if it’s a technical question and you are stuck, think about it a little and have an idea of what the answer might be before coming to me – without going too far down the rabbit hole.
What people may not know is that one of the reasons I give that speech is because I enjoy seeing the thought process from a different perspective on how people tackle tough problems – and because I pretty much always learn something from others’ ideas.
What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?
When I interact with young women in STEAM fields about their experiences in the field, I feel so proud to be a part of our inclusive culture at Jacobs and wish that everyone could have the same experience.
If you aren’t working, what are we most likely to find you doing?
I’m in music rehearsals at least a few times a week. One of the groups I sing with is the St. Louis Chamber Chorus, an all-professional acapella choir. I’ve recorded over 10 CDs with the group, some of which are available on streaming services.
The rest of the time I’m with family or hiking or making music with my extended family and friends. My oldest daughter is a senior at University of Oregon, my son is starting college at Loyola University-Chicago in the fall, and my youngest just obtained her driver’s license. I’m very glad I have no more children to teach how to drive! I married my high school sweetheart almost 25 years ago who is an urban planner and who runs the premier fish fry blog for St. Louis (it’s a thing!)