Introduction

I am an Associate Researcher at the Department of Geography at University of California, Santa Barbara. I am a large-scale hydrologist with expertise in drought monitoring, and seasonal scale climate and drought forecasting. My research focuses on improving drought monitoring and early warning capabilities using advanced earth observations, models, remote sensing datasets and through capacity building. As a PI or co-PI within the Climate Hazards Center (CHC) I provide scientific leadership to ~17 scientists and scientific programmers. This team includes on-campus post-doctoral and research scientists as well as regional scientists in Africa and Central America. The CHG’s mission is to develop basic and applied science supporting the early detection and forecasting of hydroclimatic hazards leading to food insecurity in the Famine Early Warning Systems Network countries. I contribute to this mission by (i) helping guide the development of long-term environmental datasets for improved drought monitoring, (ii) helping guide the development of  approaches for improved seasonal scale drought forecasting, and (iii) leading capacity building efforts in Eastern and Southern Africa. 

Finally, as a current member of the NOAA-RISA supported California Nevada Climate Applications Program my research also focus on addressing drought related decision making needs of the stakeholders in California and Nevada region. 

​Email: sshukla<at>ucsb<dot>edu

Education:

• PhD in Civil Engineering, (09/2006 – 06/2012) 

             Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering-University of Washington, Seattle, WA

• Masters in Water Resources Development and Management, (07/2003 – 06/2005)

             Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

• Bachelor of Technology in Agricultural Engineering, (07/1999 – 06/2003)

             Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agricultural and Technology, Kanpur, India

Positions:

• Associate Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA  (07/2018-Present)
• Assistant Researcher-IV, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA  (07/2016-06/2018)
• Assistant Researcher-II, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (08/2014-06/2016)
• UCAR’s PACE Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (09/2012-08/2014)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA (06/2012-08/2012)
• Pre-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA (09/2006-06/2012)
• Research Assistant, Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. (07/2005-06/2006)

​Affiliations: 

1. ​Climate Hazards Center at UC Santa Barbara
2. California Nevada Climate Applications Program at UC San Diego
3. UC Water Center

Academic Service:

1. Editor of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences  (HESS)
2. Associate Editor of Journal of Hydrometeorology​​
3. Reviewer of journals Scientific reports, Plos One, Scientific Data, Water Resources Research, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Environmental Research Letters, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Climate Research, Climatic Change, Intl. Journal of Climatology, Journal of Hydrology, Remote Sensing of Environment.

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Selected awards and Honors:

1. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)’s 2012 Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise (PACE) Fellowship to pursue Postdoctoral research. (2012-2014)
2. The Federal Commission Scholarship by the Swiss Government for the pursuit of a nine-month research project at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. (2005-2006)
3. The Indian Ministry of Human Resources and Development Scholarship for the pursuit of a Master’s degree at the Indian Institute of Technology. (2003-2005)​

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