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Balaji, Rajagopalan

Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Competition for freshwater resources is intense as global populations increase. This is evident in the Western United States, where developmental pressures are stressing the already limited water resources, exacerbated by substantial year-to-year (i.e., interannual) variability. My research program is an interdisciplinary effort to address these problems. This entails three interconnected themes – (1) Understanding the causes for spatial and temporal variability of the water cycle; (2) Forecasting and Scenario generation tools for water resource management that incorporate understanding of climatic variability and change, and (3) Evaluating decision strategies (this calls for knowledge of the decision making process of various resource management systems – water resources, agriculture, drinking water etc.).

keywords

  • Hydrology, Hydroclimatology, Stochsatic Hydrology, Hydrologic projection on seasonal and interdecadal time scales, Indian monsoon climate variability, use of paleo-climate information in hydrologic and climate diagnostics, Functional estimation, weather generators, Water resources management, statistical water quality and demand modeling, incorporating climate variability and change into water quantity and quality modeling and management

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • CVEN 4899 - Civil Engineering Senior Project Design
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
    Provides a simulated real world design and construction planning experience where teams integrate across multiple civil engineering sub-disciplines to create a solution that satisfies multiple constraints, including design, client requirements, budget, schedule, technical, regulatory, and societal. Final deliverables include: detailed design drawings, specifications, cost estimate, project schedule, construction plan, oral and written presentation.
  • CVEN 5333 - Physical Hydrology
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022
    Introduces hydrology as a quantitative science describing the occurrence, distribution and movement of water at and near the surface of the earth. Develops a quantitative understanding of atmospheric water, infiltration, evapotranspiration and surface runoff. Studies global climatology and large scale climate drivers of regional hydrology at interannual time scales. Solves engineering problems related to water resources. Recommended prerequisite: CVEN 4333.
  • CVEN 5454 - Statistical Methods for Natural and Engineered Systems
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2024
    Applies traditional and modern probability and statistical methods to environmental, hydrological, climatological and engineering data analysis. Topics include: basic probability, data visualization, fitting univariate and multivariate distributions, Monte Carlo simulations, extreme value distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, nonparametric density estimators, linear regression, and Bayesian analysis. The data analysis tool, R, is used throughout the course.
  • CVEN 6393 - Hydrologic Sciences and Water Resources Engineering Seminar
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2024
    Provides a broad introduction to a variety of research topics from hydrologic sciences and water resources engineering. Offered as a one-hour weekly seminar by the departmental water faculty, graduate students,and external speakers.
  • CVEN 6833 - Special Topics
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021
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Background

awards and honors

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