ASCE Publishing: How does this journal differentiate from others in the field?

Chin: The scope of the journal explicitly covers major specialty areas in both civil engineering and agricultural engineering---irrigation engineering is a specialty area in agricultural engineering, and drainage engineering is a specialty area in civil engineering. An additional feature that differentiates the Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (JIDE) from other ASCE journals published under the EWRI umbrella is that JIDE papers are typically much more practical. These papers are written to be understood and applied by both practitioners and academicians--this feature of the journal significantly contributes to its utility across a wide spectrum of readers.

ASCE Publishing: What topics need to be addressed in the space now?

Chin: Topics that incorporate the latest technological innovations in irrigation and drainage engineering are needed, as well as improved hydrological models for abstraction and runoff computation. Technological innovations such as the development and application of robust autonomous systems with real-time links to mathematical models and field data, as well as the application computational fluid dynamics to the understanding of system behaviors that cannot be adequately validated at laboratory and field scales. With respect to developing improved methods for abstraction and runoff computation, there still much room for improvement in the one- and two-parameter models that are currently being widely used to estimate runoff from urban and agricultural catchments.

ASCE Publishing: What key features do you look for in an article submitted to your journal?

Chin: The key features that I am looking for are: (1) a thorough summary review of previous work in the area covered by the paper, and a clear explanation of the relevance of the paper to engineering practice; (2) a quantitative analysis that is rigorous and has a solid foundation in the basic and engineering sciences; (3) laboratory and/or field validation of novel contributions; and (4) clear and explicit statements on how the findings described in the paper can be applied.

ASCE Publishing: What inspired you to become a Civil Engineer?

Chin: My father was my inspiration. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college, a civil engineer who began his career overseeing the irrigation of sugar cane fields in rural Jamaica, then became a partner in a civil engineering consulting engineering firm, and ended his career as the City Engineer of Coral Springs, Florida. Along the way, he demonstrated a love and passion for the profession of civil engineering, and a dedication to excellence and high ethical standards. Having a front-row seat to the life of this great man made me want to follow in his footsteps as a civil engineer.

ASCE Publishing: What drew you to be an editor?

Chin: I was drawn to the editorship of JIDE for two main reasons: (1) this journal is one of my favorite journals to both read and publish my research, and I would like to extend its reach beyond the current readership; and (2) I felt that by being the chief editor I would have the opportunity to elevate the quality of the journal, and guide the content of the journal to keep up with the latest developments in the fields of irrigation engineering, drainage engineering, and cognate areas.

ASCE Publishing: What aspirations do you have for the journal?

Chin: My primary aspirations for the journal are to: (1) increase the readership of the journal by publishing seminal papers that directly advance current research within the scope of the journal, and (2) publish papers that directly address pressing application issues being faced by practitioners. In terms of metrics, my goal is to significantly increase the impact factor of the journal, and set the journal on a sustained upward trend in the quality of papers in emerging fields within the scope of the journal.

ASCE Publishing: Any advice for new researchers?

Chin: Begin any investigation with a thorough literature review, and continue to review relevant literature in parallel to your investigation; leave no stone unturned. This practice will keep you from doing things that have already been done, enable you to concurrently build on the latest work being done by others, and have publishable outputs from your research.

Always strive for excellence, whatever analyses you do they must be thorough, rigorous, and of the highest quality. In the end, you should be convinced that what you have done is absolutely the best that can be done. The expected outcome of your work should always be a significant advancement of the field in which you are working---research in mature areas usually does not lead to significant advancements and are less likely to be publishable. Your work should have practical application to important problems. You should adhere to the highest ethical standards, both as a researcher and a professional.

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