Climate change has been defined as a key issue of our generation while water security and sustainability has been highlighted as a crucial challenge of the 21st century for the nation and the globe. Our research attempts to understand the fundamental science of climate and hydrology while developing predictive insights which can inform decisions and policy.
We define climate extremes as severe weather or hydrological events, as well as large shifts in regional hydro-meteorological patterns, that may be caused or exacerbated by climate change or natural climate variability, and which in turn may have significant impacts on critical infrastructures and key resources. We aim to develop fundamental understanding of the multi-scale processes governing severe weather and hydrological events under climate change, in addition to developing projections and predictive insights relevant for adaptation decisions and policy. Our focus has been on understanding the science of climate extremes and uncertainty, translation to impacts with a particular focus on the water sector, and informing policy in the context of adaptation and mitigation. Our approaches blend interdisciplinary data sciences with physical process understanding from climate model simulations and sensor-based observations.
Water sustainability is influenced by and in turn influences global and regional climate change or natural variability, population shifts and growth, regional land use policies ranging from urbanization and deforestation, as well as water resources decisions including drinking water supply, flood or drought hazards management, agricultural water use and irrigation. Our research aspires to develop new insights for understanding, and novel methods for exploring, the complex interactions among natural, engineered and human systems that relate to water sustainability, especially in growing urban regions of the world, as well as for emerging economies. In particular, our research aspires to examine competing water demand and supply issues in light of population growth and urbanization, climate change and variability, traditional and renewable energy use, as well as globalization and enhanced living standards.