AghaKouchak Awarded the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize
July 13, 2020 - Amir AghaKouchak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, will receive the 2020 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers for his notable contributions to the science of compound and inter-connected extreme weather events. The annual prize, established in 1946, is ASCE’s highest level early to mid-career research award in all areas of civil and environmental engineering.
“I owe this recognition to my incredible mentors, collaborators and most importantly, the students and postdoctoral scholars that I have had the honor to work with” said AghaKouchak, who joined the Samueli School’s Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2011 as faculty.
AghaKouchak’s interdisciplinary research involves hydrology, climatology and remote sensing to address critical global water-resource issues. He uses continuously developing satellite data, model simulations and ground-based observations to improve monitoring and prediction of droughts, floods and heatwaves. He is particularly interested in interactions between different hazards, such as droughts and heatwaves and how different drivers of flooding interact with each other.
The prize is the latest in a list of honors for AghaKouchak. He has received the American Geophysical Union’s James B. Macelwane Medal (2019), the Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award (2017), and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics’ Early Career Scientist Award (2018). AghaKouchak is one of five this year to receive the Huber Prize, which will be presented virtually during the Society’s Annual Convention, October 28-31, 2020.
– Lori Brandt
