What is Liminal Engineering?

Liminal:
1. occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.
2. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.

Liminal Engineering is engineering in the transitional spaces between systems - between natural and anthropogenic systems, across time and space.

Treating water as the connecting element, I apply data analytics and engineering principles to help manage water resources and hydrology for the benefit of nature and humans. I seek synergies while mitigating risks to support resilient communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems.

Ultimately, I believe by moving towards management of land, water, food, and energy within the context of nature we can build healthy and happy societies and environments.



Feel free to reach out!
Email: liminal.engr@gmail.com or ben.choat@gmail.com



Who am I?

Ben Choat headshot

My name is Ben Choat and I use Liminal Engineering for all my independent adventures into engineering, water resources, data science, and other fun studies and projects.

I am a Water Resources Scientist and Professional Engineer. I have expertise in surface-subsurface interactions and anthropogenic alterations to the hydrologic cycle. My interests range from precipitation formation in the atmosphere to subsurface flow - to water at your tap - to the natural and societal systems that are affected by the flow of water.

My experience includes finite element hydraulic modeling, finite difference surface-subsurface modeling, statistical modeling, machine learning, systems analysis, stakeholder engagement, and more. I've also performed extensive field and lab work assisting with ecological and agricultural research. My curiosity and desire to provide a benefit to society drive me to continuously expand my skill set and experience. I'm highly skilled, capable, and eager to perform work that shifts society towards sustainable management of its resources for the benefit of humans and nature.



Why does this website exist?

This website was created to serve two purposes:

1. Act as my personal website,
2. Provide a practical project to help me learn Flask, HTML, and CSS.

I wanted to grow my web-app skills for fun and for professional development. So, I decided to learn Ploty, Plotly Dash, and Flask. Learning Flask led me to playing with HTML and CSS and dabbling in JavaScript. I originally deployed this website on AWS for learning, but have since migrated to GitHub Pages. That required removing Flask, Dash, and any other Python code - using only JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.