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 principal engineer at Emmons & Olivier Resources and is an 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.

Over a 45-year career, Rob has worked on a wide range of water resources, coastal and civil engineering projects as a consulting engineer, specializing in multidisciplinary projects and those involving groundwater-surface water interaction. Rob serves as the chair of 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 is also a founder and co-chair of the Infrastructure Working Group within the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, is a member of its Science Advisory Board, and leads the Wisconsin Rainfall Project, which provides 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.

Maria Viteri Hart is a climate change adaptation planning consultant and founder of Embed Climate, a social impact venture focused on climate literacy. 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. She sits on the Transportation Research Board’s Freight Transportation Data Committee.

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.