Founding Director, Columbia Water Center, Senior Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate & Society, Columbia University
Dr. Upmanu Lall is the founding Director of the Columbia Water Center, the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering, and a Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate & Society at Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He has received the Henry Darcy Award from the European Geophysical Union, and the Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, among others. Through the Columbia Water Center, he has led projects (in countries in all major continents) on water and climate sustainability, risk analysis and mitigation, infrastructure solutions, and the integration of financial instruments. His work ranges from basic research on hydroclimatology and data science to applied research on systems design and optimization, policy analysis and innovation, and field engagement. He conceived of and has been pursuing the “America’s Water Initiative” since 2014, and in this context has been developing research and advocacy towards comprehensive national water, energy, agriculture planning informed by climate, and decentralized, “one water” solutions as the future direction for US and global water infrastructure.