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Nikolopoulos, Efthymios

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineeringefthymios-nikolopoulos

What excites you most about your research?

Working on advancing the ability to predict rainfall-induced hazards like floods, debris flows and landslides is a very exciting topic because succeeding in it means that first we have reached a higher level of understanding of the underlying processes of the earth system and second we have produced knowledge and tools that can be used to make our world more resilient to natural catastrophes.

What’s the most valuable aspect of your research for people and communities?

Weather related hazards like floods constitute a global threat and affect human lives and infrastructure in multitude ways (disruption of communication and power, population displacement, fatalities etc.) at a global scale. Advancing flood prediction is critical for developing early warning systems, which are needed to allow people and communities to respond effectively to imminent threats. In addition, improving the estimation of magnitude and frequency of those hazards allow us to better design mitigation structures that are used to reduce the risk associated to these hazards and improve livelihood.

Research focus: My work focuses on the integration of remote sensing observations with numerical modeling in order to advance understanding and predictability of water cycle components and weather related hazards. Specific research topics include a) application of state-of-the-art remote sensing precipitation products and distributed hydrologic models for flood prediction b) water resources uncertainty analysis and c) development of prediction models for hydrogeomorphic hazards.

Website: http://ucwater.engr.uconn.edu

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