About Us

The Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) is made up of individuals interested in accelerating adaptation and mitigation solutions among Wisconsin’s infrastructure managers and designers.

The IWG is open to any professional seeking to learn more about climate change impacts on the design, operation, management, and financing of Wisconsin’s infrastructure.

Members will support developing or communicating solutions within their networks. The IWG seeks to engage professionals representing all parts of Wisconsin.

Our communication approach has several directions: web-based data, articles, and presentations to organizations already in place (such as the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the American Public Works Association) to reach infrastructure designers and managers.

IWG Leadership

Robert Montgomery, P.E. (chair) is a consulting water resources engineer and adjunct faculty member of the UW-Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Rob is a diplomate in the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.

After attending the University of Illinois and Colorado State University, Rob began work with several consulting engineering firms in Dane County in 1980 before founding his specialty water resource engineering consulting firm, Montgomery Associates, in 1998. His work focuses on multidisciplinary civil engineering and water resource projects involving groundwater and surface water quality and quantity in civil engineering design, especially stormwater management.

Rob has participated in various local and national professional societies and advisory committees on water resources and climate change issues, including chairing the WICCI Infrastructure Working Group.

Dr. Daniel Wright joined the civil and environmental engineering department at UW-Madison as an assistant professor in 2016, where his research, teaching, and outreach focuses on floods and how they are influenced by meteorology, urbanization, and climate change.

He is a member of NASA’s Precipitation Measurement Mission Science Team and received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in Hydrologic Sciences in 2018.

Dr. Wright co-founded the Infrastructure Working Group within the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. He led the Wisconsin Rainfall Project, which provided updated and future rainfall information to infrastructure designers and planners. He received UW-Madison’s Exceptional Service Award in 2020 for his climate and infrastructure-related outreach and the Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Award in 2024. He serves as an advisor to the IWG.

Maria Viteri Hart is a climate change adaptation planning consultant based in Madison, Wisconsin. She is an active member of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals.

Ms. Hart is also a researcher emerita from UW-Madison’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where she focused on freight planning, livability, and transportation workforce development. Maria, an IWG co-chair, led the development of the IWG survey and contributes digital engagement, adaptation planning skills, and climate tech knowledge to this effort.

Dr. Bu Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UW-Madison. Dr. Wang teaches courses on civil engineering materials and sustainability in construction at UW-Madison.

His research focuses on sustainability issues related to construction materials, waste material utilization, and carbon mitigation technologies such as carbon capture and utilization. He is serving on the Academic Committee of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and Envision. He joined the WICCI Infrastructure Working Group in 2020.

Contact Information

Rob Montgomery
rmontgomery2@wisc.edu

Daniel Wright
danielb.wright@wisc.edu

Maria Viteri Hart
maria.hart@nomadplanners.com

Bu Wang
bu.wang@wisc.edu

Mailing List

If you are interested in the Infrastructure Working Group, please join our mailing list.