Upmanu Lall

Dr. Upmanu Lall is the Director of the Columbia Water Center and the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University. He chairs the Department of Earth & Environmental Engineering in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on hydrology, climate dynamics, water resource systems, risk management, and sustainability, with a particular emphasis on societal outcomes and innovative applications.

His major initiatives include the Global Water Sustainability Initiative addressing water scarcity, the Global Flood Initiative for flood prediction and mitigation, and 'America's Water' for sustainable urban infrastructure. These programs leverage systems-level modeling of hydrology, climate, agronomy, and economics. He pioneered techniques in nonlinear dynamical systems, Bayesian models, and climate variability studies.

Dr. Lall's work spans over 30 projects, including disaster planning in New York, climate-informed flood risk assessments, and groundwater depletion studies in India. His research integrates interdisciplinary approaches to address water-energy-food nexus challenges, climate adaptation, and community-driven solutions. He leads the Columbia Water Center's educational initiatives, such as the Aquanauts program promoting citizen science and sustainable engineering education.

His publications emphasize probabilistic climate projections, flood hazard analysis, and participatory water development strategies. Collaborations with institutions like The Nature Conservancy highlight his focus on practical, scalable solutions to global water crises.