Headquartered in Loveland, Colorado and founded on essential core values, Precision provides technical support to managers of complex water resource systems. Precision facilitates precise and efficient management
of these systems, to the benefit of all water users.

 

 

Precision Water Resources Engineering Team 

August 2023 

 

Shane Coors, MS, PE //  President

The founder and president of Precision Water Resources Engineering, Mr. Coors received a BS in Engineering Physics from Westmont College, and an ME Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University. He taught in the Physics department of the University of Utah for four years, while working toward a MS in Computational Physics. He was employed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in Salt Lake City and Carson City for six years, specializing in water resources system modeling. He left federal service in 2008 to start Precision. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Nevada. Mr. Coors specializes in RiverWare model development, high-precision realtime operations modeling, and utilizing water resource system models to support reservoir operations, planning studies, climate change studies, NEPA compliance, and expert witness services. Send Shane an email >


Andrew Gilmore, MS //  Project Manager

Mr. Gilmore received a BA in Geology and an MS in Civil Engineering (Water Resources) from the University of Colorado. Before and during his master’s program, he worked at the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), the original developers of the Hydrologic Database (HDB). From there, he began his career of federal service, first with the Bureau of Reclamation in Salt Lake City, and then with Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration in Loveland. He specializes in data-driven solutions to water and power problems, integrating technology and information to create intelligence about difficult policy decisions. In 2015, he joined Precision to oversee our on-call support contract for Reclamation’s HDB. Send Andrew an email >


Tony Powell, MS, PE //  Project Manager

Mr. Powell received a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. This was followed by a year working for Ninham Shand Consulting Services in Cape Town, South Africa where he contributed to water resource studies and projects.  He continued his education by receiving an MS in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado where he focused on Water Resource Management.  Following his Masters degree, he worked as an independent consultant in Washington, DC, working for the World Bank concentrating on analyzing the impact of climate change on river basin management in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Europe.  In 2012, Mr. Powell joined Precision and supported the development of operations and planning models for their use in management practices and became a professional engineer in 2014.  In 2016, Mr. Powell and his wife took time away from their careers and spent some time abroad. Mr. Powell rejoined Precision in 2017, and has continued his support in the development of RiverWare models for river basin operational management and planning purposes. Mr Powell oversees Precision’s extensive work on the Colorado River for clients primarily in Utah. Send Tony an email >


Todd Vandegrift, MS, PE //  Project Manager

Mr. Vandegrift received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota where he focused on Water Resources Engineering with a minor in Natural Resources Science and Management and a post-baccalaureate certificate in Stream Restoration Science and Engineering. Before joining Precision in 2016, Mr. Vandegrift spent the first five years of his career working in the Water Resources Operations and Planning Support Group of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Technical Service Center in Denver, CO, where he gained a wide variety of experience in many aspects of water resource modeling in many river basins across the western United States. He specializes in river and reservoir system modeling using RiverWare and various other software packages. Send Todd an email >


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Patrick Noe, MS, PE //  Project Manager

Mr. Noe received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Water Resources Management from Colorado State University. He has been an employee with Precision since 2018, mainly focusing on water rights modelling, client operational support and project management in the Truckee River Basin. Mr. Noe specializes in RiverWare© model development and the development of technical tools to help clients make informed decisions on the water resources. Prior to his tenure at Precision, Mr. Noe spent several years in Austin focusing his time on both non-profit youth work and videography before deciding to pursue a career in water resources planning and management. Send Patrick an email >


Benjamin Abel, PhD // Water Resources Engineer

Dr. Abel received a BA in Music from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He then moved to Los Angeles, California and spent six years in software quality assurance before deciding to return to school. He moved to Colorado in 2013 to attend the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley where he received his MA in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Then, he received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His diverse, interdisciplinary background includes climatology, data science, numerical modeling, and programming. During his time at CU, he gained experience with RiverWare, and he will continue development of RiverWare models to assist in water resources management with Precision. He will also use his climatology and data science knowledge to help clients better understand how climate and hydrologic data affect and inform water resources management. Send Ben an email >


Leland Dorchester, M.S. // Water Resources Engineer

Leland received a B.S. in Geology from Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, CO. During his undergraduate studies, Leland became interested in water resources while working as a field and laboratory technician in the fluvial geomorphology laboratory at CSU. He then gained experience working in environmental consulting at sites across Colorado. In the Fall of 2020, Leland returned to school to pursue a Master of Science in Hydrologic Science and Engineering from Colorado School of Mines (CSM), where he gained experience in numerical and analytical hydrologic modeling techniques. Upon finishing at CSM, Leland began working at Precision as a Water Resources Engineer in 2022. With Precision, he will work on developing RiverWare© models that provide support to water resources management decisions. In his time away from work, you can usually find Leland in the outdoors skiing, mountain biking, or climbing in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Send Leland an email >


Lianne Daugherty, M.S. // Water Resources Engineer

Ms. Daugherty received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and worked as an environmental engineer for three years. She continued her education with an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder where she contributed to research at the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES). For the next five years, she worked in consulting specializing in RiverWare and supporting clients in the Colorado River Basin using the Bureau of Reclamation's planning model, the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS). After a homebase move, she was employed by Jacobs Engineering, working on everything from combined sewer overflow programs to sewer asset risk management to CRSS modeling support. Ms. Daugherty joined Precision in 2023 where she supports RiverWare model development and management for river basin operational management and planning purposes. Her current projects involve model development for the Water Security Agency of Saskatchewan and continuing to support clients in the Colorado River Basin. Send Lianne an email >


Isaac Ruble, B.S. // Junior Engineer

Isaac received a B.S. in Applied Physics with a minor in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. During college, he interned with Precision for two summers, focusing on data analysis. Additionally, he researched nonlinear and flat optics while at Columbia. After graduating, Isaac worked for Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer and scrum master on the NGG OPIR project. Then, he switched fields and started a fiber optics company. For the following two years, he worked as the lead technician and project manager on fiber network installations in rural communities throughout the United States. Isaac joined Precision in early 2024 and has primarily provided data analysis support on projects in the Truckee River Basin. Send Isaac an email >