Venkat Sridhar

Venkat Sridhar is an Associate Professor in the Biological Systems Engineering department at Virginia Tech, with a focus on climate change impacts on hydrology and water resources. His research spans river basin modeling, land-atmosphere interactions, and GIS applications in water management.

• Education: PhD in Biosystems Engineering (Oklahoma State University), MS in Irrigation Engineering (Asian Institute of Technology), BS in Agricultural Engineering (Tamil Nadu Agricultural University).
• Licensure: Registered Civil Engineer in Nebraska and Idaho.

Research Interests: Climate change impact assessment at river basin scales, water management decision support systems, vegetation dynamics, streamflow modeling, surface-groundwater interactions, and remote sensing applications. His work integrates models like VIC, SWAT, and WRF-Noah with systems dynamics to address water allocation challenges.

International Collaborations: Active in projects with institutions in India, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, including USAID PEER, SPARC, Fulbright Specialist, and NASA initiatives. He mentors PhD students and researchers in climate adaptation, flood modeling, and water-energy-food nexus studies.

Scientific Awards:

• 2022 Fulbright-Nehru Award for Academic and Professional Excellence
• 2020 Honorable Mention for UCOWR Mid-Career Applied Research Award
• 2019 Fulbright Specialist Award

Grants and Funding: NSF (Chamoli landslide study), USAID PEER (Bhavani River basin adaptation), SPARC (flood forecasting), USDA NIFA (salinity impacts), NASA (Lower Mekong sustainability), MATS-UTC (infrastructure flooding), and others.